When emergency services respond to an incident, the first minutes determine the outcome. Ground units take time to mobilise and navigate. A drone already positioned in the area does not.
Avy operates a drone-as-a-first-responder system built around one principle: the aircraft should reach the scene before the first vehicle does. The Avy Aera launches from its docking station in 30 seconds with no operator on site, travels at 100km/h, and covers up to 100km on a single charge. At that speed and range, it is not comparable to conventional drone deployments. It is closer to a permanently stationed aerial unit that is always ready.
Avy is actively expanding its emergency response network across Europe, with programmes operational in the Netherlands and new deployments underway in Belgium and the UK.
The drone-as-a-first-responder model positions an Avy Aera and docking station within a defined response zone. When an incident is reported, the aircraft is dispatched immediately from the operations centre, arriving at the scene ahead of ground units and providing live aerial footage to incident commanders before anyone has left the station.
Avy works with Politie Twente, the Dutch regional police force, on drone-as-a-first-responder operations. While operational details of police deployments are not disclosed, Avy's role providing rapid aerial situational awareness to responding units has been documented publicly.
The speed advantage is significant. At 100km/h cruise speed, an Avy drone covers 5km in three minutes. A patrol vehicle covering the same distance in urban or rural conditions will typically take longer, and arrives without the aerial perspective that changes how an incident commander deploys resources on the ground.
Avy collaborated with Brandweer, the Dutch national fire service, on wildfire detection using autonomous drone operations. The programme demonstrated how long-range VTOL drones equipped with thermal cameras can identify early-stage fires across large areas of terrain, providing fire services with precise location data and live imagery before ground units arrive.
In wildfire response, early detection is the critical variable. A fire identified at 0.1 hectares is manageable. The same fire at 10 hectares is not. Avy's thermal payload detects heat signatures invisible to RGB cameras, enabling detection at the earliest possible stage.
The Brandweer collaboration won an Airwards in the Emergency Response and SAR category in 2021, recognising it as one of the most significant positive drone use cases globally that year.
Avy has demonstrated autonomous hazard detection across rail infrastructure in a programme conducted with ProRail, the Dutch national rail operator. Drone flights identified safety-critical anomalies including incorrectly positioned vehicles and faulty fire safety equipment, hazards that are difficult to detect consistently through ground inspection across the scale of a national rail network.
The system's ability to fly consistent, repeatable routes and compare imagery against a known baseline makes it well suited to scheduled compliance monitoring for rail, road, and industrial infrastructure operators.
Organisations flying with Avy
The Avy Aera's combination of thermal imaging, long range, and BVLOS capability makes it well suited to search and rescue operations across large or difficult terrain. Thermal cameras detect body heat in darkness, dense vegetation, or water, covering search areas in minutes that would take ground teams hours to cover on foot.
Operating BVLOS, the aircraft covers ground far beyond the range of conventional drone deployments, which are legally limited to roughly 500 metres without specific authorisation. Avy's BVLOS LUC certification means search missions can be conducted across the full operational range of the aircraft.
The system behind the response
100 km/h
Cruise speed
100 km
Range per charge
30 sec
Dock operation
30+ knots
Wind tolerance
Once airborne, the Aera streams live thermal and RGB footage directly to incident commanders. Between missions, the docking station recharges the aircraft automatically, keeping it ready for the next deployment. The whole system is controlled remotely from Avy's operations centre, which can be integrated into an existing emergency services dispatch environment.
The same system that supports emergency response also enables autonomous medical delivery. The Avy Aera's fuselage includes a dedicated payload bay that accommodates an insulated medical kit, maintaining blood, organs, and diagnostic samples at the correct temperature for transport.
Avy has conducted medical delivery programmes in Botswana and Benin, where the Aera delivered critical medical supplies 65% faster than road transport to communities without reliable road access. The same capability applies in European healthcare contexts, where time-critical transport of blood products and diagnostic samples between hospitals and laboratories has been demonstrated in the Netherlands.
Avy's emergency response network is operational and growing. Current programmes are active in the Netherlands with police and fire services. New deployments are underway with emergency response operators in Belgium and the UK, expanding the network's geographic coverage across northwest Europe.
For emergency services evaluating drone-as-a-first-responder capability, Avy offers operational programmes rather than demonstrations: active deployments generating real-world data on response times, detection rates, and operational reliability.
Ready to deploy a drone-as-a-first-responder programme?
Avy works with police forces, fire services, and emergency response operators across Europe. Contact us to discuss how autonomous drone deployment could work within your response infrastructure.