Ghana Navy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Fly Zipline Ghana Limited, a drone delivery company to offer assistance in the recovery of their lost drones and supplies along the major river bodies in the country. The MoU further seeks to enhance collaborations in the area of capacity building and afford training opportunities between the two institutions.
The MoU was formalized with exchange of signatories between the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Rear Admiral Issah AdamYakubu and the General Manager Fly Zipline Ghana Limited, Mr Mawuli Atiemo at a brief ceremony held at the Naval Headquarters, Burma Camp, Accra on Wednesday 8 November 2023.
Rear Admiral Issah Adam Yakubu said the primary role of the Navy is to provide sea defence and maritime support, thus Fly Zipline Ghana’s request for help to recover lost drones was timely and within the capabilities of the Navy.
He stressed that plans were underway to form the Ghana Navy drone Squadron who will be responsible for operating its drones to assist in search and rescue operations. He said with the establishment of the drone squadron, recovery of drones which may be ditched particularly in riverine bodies will be easier to retrieve.
The CNS maintained that it was important to be technologically advanced in order to have access to web-based tracking system and with the collaboration onboard, analysis on info-graphics will become easier having to tap on Zipline Ghana’s expertise and capacity.
Mr Mawuli Atiemo on the other hand, was hopeful that with the signing of the MoU, the two institutions will have an enhanced partnership in sharing ideas which will be beneficial to the country at large.
He added that Fly Zipline Ghana is on a mission to develop the largest supply chain company, mentioning that the company currently runs as the largest autonomous delivery of drones across the world from its base in Ghana that delivers medical vaccines as well as emergency products like anti-snakes and rabies as well as blood.
Sometime April this year, a consensus was reached, where Ghana Navy granted Fly Zipline Ghana the access to its Maritime Operations Centre to its web-based monitoring platform to enable the Navy track and follow Zipline’s flight operations and respond swiftly should a drone ditch or a supply drop into any of the water bodies over which Zipline operates.
The Chief Staff Officer, Commodore Prosper Modey, the Deputy Chief Staff Officer Policy and Plans, Commodore Solomon Asiedu-Larbi, Deputy Chief Staff Officer, Operations and Training Naval Captain Yirenkyi, some Directors and Senior officers as well as Representatives of Fly Zipline Ghana Limited were present.
