Gadfin: Israeli firm opens new horizons in the field of air cargo drones

• Published date: 07 January 2021
• Date: 07 January 2021
• Author: SARAH HERSHENSON
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The challenge being met is the need for delivery of urgent medical supplies, vaccines, even organs for transplant, in ways that are efficient, quick, safe and economical. Conventional delivery poses many problems, such as the time it takes for delivery, possible glitches in road traffic, safety, maintaining the product at optimum temperature, the cost of transport and manpower hours.

The Rehovot-based logistics company Gadfin has come up with a trailblazing solution: air cargo drones. They are experts in constructing drone aircraft and providing the logistics and capabilities for autonomous drone delivery services between businesses, hospitals and work centers. Currently, they are in the midst of preparations for delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and are fitting their drones with a COVID-19 vaccine delivery-compliant compartment that can maintain -80° centigrade cooling for as long as three hours.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Gadfin CEO Eyal Regev points out, "Our goals are to make connections in the physical world. It can be compared to the worldwide Internet Web, www, which allows people worldwide to connect and share information and knowledge. Imagine if all hospitals and medical labs from the Dan in the North to Eilat in the South were able to transfer refrigerated medical cargo economically within minutes. This is our vision. Our goal is to build a new kind of 'railroad in the sky' able to deliver supplies from point to point in all weather – safely, quietly and reliably, like never before. "

IN 2006, Regev, while working at Israel Aeronautics Industry, began developing the drone potential. He remembers thinking about a drone that would act like a courier pigeon carrying out important deliveries. Some people thought him crazy, he remembers, but others saw the potential and urged him to "go for it."

In 2018, Regev, with Ran Kleiner and Ilan Yuval, established Gadfin, specializing in making drone airplane logistics. Located in Rehovot, they were the first to propose and implement the concept of delivery drones for businesses and large organizations. In 2020, Gadfin was the first in Israel to be granted the license by the Civil Aviation Authority to deliver cargo by drones, and is recognized worldwide as the first approved advanced-logistics drone delivery line.

"We chose the name Gadfin for our company because it is the Aramaic word for wings," Regev explains, "and illustrates our potential. The term is used by the Zohar in the Book of Kabala, which...