Food for thought on aid delivery

LONDON - Edible drones filled with food, water or medicine could soon be used to deliver live-saving supplies to remote areas hit by natural disasters or conflict, the company behind the aircraft said on Monday.

With 50 kilograms of food stocked inside its compartments, each drone costing 150 pounds ($187) would be able to deliver enough supplies to feed up to 50 people per day, they said.

The frame of the prototype version of the aircraft - called Pouncer - is made of wood but the designers are planning to use edible materials in the next version.

"Food can be a component to build things," said Nigel Gifford, a former army catering officer and founder of United Kingdom-based Windhorse Aerospace, the company behind the unmanned aerial vehicle.

"You fly (the drone) and then eat it," he said in a phone interview.

With a range of up to 40 kilometers, the drone can be launched from an aircraft or catapulted from the ground with an accuracy of about 7 meters, giving it an advantage over airdrops, which are often used as a last resort in emergencies.

"In combat zones like we have in Aleppo in Syria or Mosul in Iraq, nothing will work except what we have," Gifford said.

"With parachuted airdrops the problem is you can't guarantee where the loads will land.

"In Aleppo we could have put aid straight into some of the streets and we could have done that out of the sight of ISIS (Islamic State)."

Parts of the 3 m by 1.5 m drone, designed by the team behind Facebook's solar-powered internet drone Aquila, can be used as fuel or shelter.

The Windhorse team also includes Bruce Dickinson, entrepreneur and lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, and former Airbus executive Andrew Morgan.

Gifford said several humanitarian agencies, including medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and the World Health Organization have already expressed their interest in using the drone.

In December, Windhorse presented the Pouncer to Britain's aid minister Priti Patel, hoping to attract government help with financing.

"We're waiting to hear back from them," Gifford said.

He said the Pouncer would undergo initial testing in May and should be ready to be deployed on its first mission by the end of the year.