The Ghana Navy has entered into a partnership with Fly Zipline Ghana Limited, a company that delivers medical supplies and other essential items using drones, to assist them in recovering their lost drones and supplies along the major river bodies in the country. The partnership also aims to enhance collaboration in the area of capacity building and training opportunities between the two institutions.
The partnership was formalized with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Rear Admiral Issah Adam Yakubu and the General Manager of Fly Zipline Ghana Limited, Mr Mawuli Atiemo at a brief ceremony held at the Naval Headquarters, Burma Camp, Accra on Wednesday, November 8, 2023.
According to Rear Admiral Issah Adam Yakubu, the primary role of the Navy is to provide sea defence and maritime support, and the request from Fly Zipline Ghana for help to recover lost drones was timely and within the capabilities of the Navy. He also revealed that the Navy was planning to form its own drone squadron, which will be responsible for operating its drones to assist in search and rescue operations. He said that with the establishment of the drone squadron, the recovery of drones that may be ditched in riverine bodies will be easier to retrieve.
The CNS also stated that it was important to be technologically advanced in order to have access to web-based tracking system and to tap on the expertise and capacity of Zipline Ghana in analyzing info-graphics.
Mr Mawuli Atiemo, on the other hand, expressed his hope that the partnership will enhance the sharing of ideas and best practices between the two institutions, which will be beneficial to the country at large.
Fly Zipline Ghana is a company that delivers medical supplies and other essential items using drones. They operate from four distribution centers across the country and can reach over 2,000 health facilities within minutes. They are also partnering with other institutions, such as the Ghana Navy, to recover their lost drones and supplies along the major river bodies in the country.
The partnership between the Ghana Navy and Fly Zipline Ghana comes at a time when the Ghanaian Navy has been improving its drone surveillance capabilities to monitor the country’s maritime boundaries and to ensure security in the maritime sector.
This September, Latvian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) company, Fixar, delivered an undisclosed quantity of their cutting-edge FIXAR 007 fully autonomous drones to the Ghanaian Armed Forces.
The FIXAR 007 is a versatile drone that can be used for a variety of missions, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), border patrol, and search and rescue. It has a range of up to 100 kilometers and can fly for up to 3 hours.
In May 2022, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) presented two Delta Quad Surveillance drones to the Ghana Navy. In March 2022, the Ghana Navy also received ZMO-120 drones from a defence and technology company, Omnicad. These drones have the ability to fly for 60 minutes, cover a distance of 40 kilometres, and reach a maximum speed of 110 kilometres per hour.