A new line of unmanned cargo drones, each carrying up to 770 pounds of freight up to 1,500 miles, is planned to take flight in the European Union in the next year.
Dronamics, founded in 2014 by Bulgarian brothers Konstantin and Svilen Rangelov, told Business Insider its new Black Swan line of drones can carry the cargo of a "last mile" delivery van to smaller airstrips, which are closer to the customers, cutting out a step in the delivery supply chain and lowering transport costs to about $2.50 per pound, the company said on its website.
"We said let's map the size of the vehicle to fit exactly what you can fit in a delivery van in the last mile,'" Rangelov told the news outlet. "This way we get to cut a step from the process."
According to the company, the Black Swan fleet of fixed-wing drones produce 60% less carbon emissions than current transportation options and will use biofuels and eventually move to hydrogen-based and synthetics in the future.
It is the first cargo drone fleet licensed to fly in the European Union, according to the company.
The design allows it to use 3,000 smaller EU airstrips in smaller communities than regular freight air transport, bringing the cargo closer to customers and making same-day delivery of goods possible, Business Insider reported.
"We have created an all-in-one solution for the middle-mile powered by our Black Swan cargo drone, a network of drone ports and fully mobile control and cargo systems," the company said on its website. "An ecosystem with global reach and simple integration into supply chains that can enable same-day delivery to the most remote areas of the world at an affordable cost."
The European Innovation Council awarded the company a $2.6 million grant last month to help roll out the fleet of drones for use sometime in the next year, Avionics International reported Nov. 28.
"[The grant serves] as testament to the impact that cargo drone logistics can have on the European Union economy at large," Svilen Rangelov said at the time. "We will use this grant to establish our European operations and keep bringing innovation to help elevate communities and businesses using breakthroughs in aviation and technology that will revolutionize air cargo mobility."
According to the company, the fleet will be the world's "first cargo drone airline."
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