Helicus: Expanding Boundaries, Shaping the Future!🚀

March 2025, Helicus executes cargo drone validation flights in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges geozone, designated to become U-Space Airspace. Indeed, these missions are part of the company's strong commitment to the BURDI.eu project, towards implementing one of the first U-SPACE Airspaces in the European Union.

In a world where innovation drives progress, Helicus is leading the way, shaping a new era of unmanned aerial logistics.

A series of duration flights are performed in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges (POAB).  Flights take place inside and outside of the POAB geozone, flying from one into the other.  As part of the EU project BURDI, U-Space Airspace is currently under accreditation by the BCAA.  As member of this Implementation project, Helicus already performed validation flights inside & outside the designated U-Space airspace, consuming the mandatory U-Space services.

All flights are performed under Helicus own operator certification as a drone airliner (LUC).  Over the past years, a major effort was made to obtain our LUC certification. This investment now brings efficiencies to our drone aerial services. While ensuring safe conditions, strictly following LUC procedures, Helicus can speed the process for a series of mission types that otherwise would be waiting for external authorisation. As a LUC holder, we have proven and continue to work in a structured way, following our safety management system, ensuring that flights are carried out with control over planning, implementation, maintenance and back-office administration.

The company strongly supports the principle of Open Modular Architecture, helping different drone manufacturers to adhere to interoperable systems so that together a wide variety of use cases can be handled, sharing the use of underlying technologies and ground handling infrastructure. For this reason, Helicus joined DORAI , an international group of leading operators, that issues industrial requirements and guides drone manufacturers towards uniform specifications relevant to their use cases. For this reasons we also support a range of manufacturers as part of projects like BURDI and SAFIR-Ready to ensure they are included in an integrated value chain and end customers can benefit from the combined strengths of their respective drone platforms.

In parallel to the validation flights, Helicus continues to build its aviation capabilities operating and integrating a variety of drones. Under the watchful eye of the chief instructor and over the course of the U-Space validation flights, 4 of our (A2 qualified) pilots were successfully trained and released on the FC30, an impressive 95 kilo drone, including an amazing 30 kilo cargo capacity. The training program included drone technical review/walkaround, basic handling & airmanship, navigation & flight path execution, and included emergency procedures with exercises.

Going beyond U-Space validation and training; it’s another milestone toward building an autonomous, safe, and efficient aerial logistics network.  As one of the first in the EU to be able to operate this class of heavy drones, Helicus leverages this capability to validate our own products that we make for drone operators and manufacturers to facilitate drone ground handling as well as air traffic integration.  Helicus products like its automated Drone Cargo Ports hardware (DCPs) and Command and Control Center software (C2C) help you to ensure seamless coordination of your drones and with wider air traffic management, unlocking new possibilities for e.g. logistics and critical transport drone missions.

We also thank the SAFIR-Ready project and its partners that continue to be instrumental in getting advanced technologies and procedures in place, preparing for the U3 and U4 U-Space services. The many discussions, insights and solutions are indeed instrumental in moving towards maturity. In the end, none of the above would be feasible without you !

SESAR Joint Undertaking , European Commission , skeyes , Belgian Defence , SkeyDrone , Unifly , Unisphere GmbH , SABCA , Infrabel , Helicus , DroneMatrix , FLYING-CAM , Skyports Drone Services , Port of Antwerp-Bruges , Alliance for New Mobility Europe , Future Needs , EUROCONTROL , NLR - Netherlands Aerospace Centre , Belgische politie - Police belge , Federale Politie Antwerpen , Airbus , EASA - European Union Aviation Safety Agency , NSX - Normalized Systems , Bureau Veritas Group DroneLand EUROCONTROL European Defence Agency FOD Mobiliteit en Vervoer / SPF Mobilité et Transports, Intertek Caleb Brett ADPO Group Nv

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