Case study
Citymesh & Belgian coastal police
Along the Belgian coast, four police zones have deployed the Avy Aera to support the fight against human smuggling and help prevent dangerous crossings of the English Channel. The aircraft is operated and integrated by Citymesh, with the Avy Aera at the heart of the operation.
The collaboration
Operating together as PZ Oostkust, the zones of Bredene/De Haan, Blankenberge/Zuienkerke, Bruges and Damme/Knokke-Heist pooled their expertise and budget to invest in drone technology jointly, rather than each acquiring it separately. The aircraft is being tested along the coastal strip toward the Dutch border, with operations coordinated from a command centre in the Bredene zone.
The aircraft
The Avy Aera is a fixed wing VTOL aircraft. It takes off and lands vertically, so it needs no runway and can launch from a confined site, then flies efficiently on a fixed wing. This lets it cover far larger areas and stay airborne significantly longer than a conventional multirotor, monitoring beaches, dunes and open water by day or night, and helping responders reach people quickly when they are in danger.
Citymesh: operating the system
Citymesh, a specialist drone operator, provides the operational backbone of the deployment: BVLOS operations, system integration, operator training, regulatory guidance and technical support. Citymesh handled the full system integration and trained the operators at its Remote Operations Center in Oostkamp, with practical training then conducted from a temporary operational centre at the Bredene police. During operations, live video is securely shared with the participating police zones and the Federal Police, giving multiple services real-time situational awareness at once. Flying beyond visual line of sight is central to the deployment, because the goal is to maintain awareness across a large stretch of coastline rather than fly short flights within sight of a single team.
Avy
This deployment is a clear example of the model Avy is built around: we design and build aircraft engineered for endurance and range, and expert operators such as Citymesh put them to work for the organisations that rely on them. Another country, another public safety operator, another Avy aircraft in the field.
