Oh Germany.
For a country so obsessed with precision engineering, a country that gave us the X-Ray, MP3 audio, Adidas, Puma, the television and the computer, all those famous car brands and the printing press, we have to express our confusion on why the Germans seem so behind when it comes to drone technology.
Still, in Wingcopter, German does have the most recognisable small cargo drone logistics provider in the whole of Europe, which is making a real positive change transporting medical supplies in Malawi and Japan.
And yet -perhaps apart from the LeiferMichel project, Wingcopter, it seems, has not made significant strides in promoting commercial drone logistics in its country of origin.
Perhaps the onset of new projects to test the feasibility of drone technology in moving medical supplies and implements among hospitals, health centres and scenes of emergency could be the catalyst that brought the German drone logistics space into the 21st century.
One such project is led by ADAC Luftrettung, which started the medical drone logistics Holy Grail in 2022, when it partnered with the DRK Blood Donor Service Baden-Württemberg-Hesse on the development of drone logistics for the transport of blood, medicines and tissue.
Four years ago, the two non-profit organisations announced the new cooperation for better patient care, whose basis was a joint research project at the University Hospital in Ulm, where more than 100 drone flights took place between the DRK blood bank and the surgery department of the university hospital.
Initial results were promising, which is perhaps why the Medicargo project is back on the menu. The aim is to develop a standard concept for all unmanned time-critical transports in the healthcare sector.
Mediscape shared an article about the medical drone logistics situation in Germany recently, and you can read all about it below.
Defibrillators, blood samples, medications, or situational assessments after accidents: Drones are seen as a beacon of hope in emergency medicine because they can quickly reach places where roads, traffic jams, or long distances cost lives.
The first pilot projects are underway in Germany. But the road from a spectacular test flight to regular deployment is a long one.
Help When Every Minute Counts
In the event of a cardiac arrest, the first few minutes are critical. The sooner chest compressions, defibrillation, and professional help begin, the greater the chances of survival and of avoiding long-term damage.
This is exactly where drones could demonstrate their strengths: dispatch center staff receive an emergency call, identify a suitable scenario, and dispatch a drone at the same time as the emergency medical services. The drone delivers an automated external defibrillator (AED) to the scene.
Lay responders are guided via phone or video. Researchers in the Uckermark region, Brandenburg, Germany, have tested this setup. According to Deutschlandfunk Nova, the drone was faster than the medical first responder in test runs, despite difficult conditions such as storms and rain.
Another example is the Rettungskette 5G project in Aalen. There, in 2024, a rescue drone carrying a defibrillator was dispatched to a training mannequin in cardiac arrest.
The concept has also been evaluated scientifically. A study from Greifswald concludes that the integration of AED drones into the German emergency medical services is feasible in principle; combining them with first-responder systems appears particularly sensible.
First-responder systems are organized frameworks in which specially trained volunteers are alerted before emergency medical services arrive at the scene of a medical emergency to initiate immediate life-saving measures. The goal is to reduce the time before treatment begins — especially in cases of sudden cardiac arrest or other time-critical emergencies.
Blood and Tissue Samples on Their Way to the Lab
The transport of medical samples is at least as realistic as emergency deployments. This includes blood, urine, or tissue samples, as well as blood units that need to be transported quickly from the hospital to the lab or from the blood bank to the operating room.
ADAC Luftrettung (Air Rescue) is working with MediCargo on a standard concept for unmanned, time-critical transports in the healthcare sector. The goal is a transferable concept for hospitals in Germany; the transport drone was developed in collaboration with the Brandenburg-based company Multirotor.
Things are taking a more concrete turn in northern Germany: Asklepios announced the launch in 2025 of a scheduled drone service for laboratory samples between the Asklepios Blomenburg Private Clinic in Selent and the Asklepios Clinic in Bad Oldesloe. The electric drones can carry up to 4 kg of material; they cover the approximately 60-km route in just under 30 minutes at an altitude of over 100m.
Doctors in Bavaria are also working on similar concepts. They have investigated whether drones can improve medical care in rural regions by automatically transporting blood samples as part of an AI-optimized logistics system. And in Essen, a hospital tested the autonomous transport of blood, urine, and tissue samples over an 8-km route to a laboratory in June 2026. The goal was to streamline routes and processes between the hospital and the lab.
Drone logistics are particularly exciting when it comes to time-sensitive goods such as blood units. Hospitals in Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia are testing such scenarios. At the Zollernalb Klinikum, the delivery of blood units and lab samples by drone is already on its way to becoming routine.
Drones as the Control Center’s Flying Eyes
However, not every medical drone needs to transport anything. In the event of traffic accidents, fires, mass casualty incidents, or at chaotic incident sites, drones can provide a situational overview before all emergency responders arrive on the scene.
A camera drone can show, for example, how many vehicles are involved, whether hazardous substances are leaking, whether access roads are blocked, or where injured people are located.
The advantage: Emergency medical services, the fire department, and the police can better manage their resources. Does another rescue helicopter need to take off? Are additional emergency physicians needed? Is there a safe landing area? In an emergency, such information can make the difference between life and death and determine the right tactics. And it’s already part of routine operations.
Drones are therefore now standard equipment for many fire departments. They are used, among other things, for reconnaissance during fires, searching for missing persons, documenting damage, and — with thermal imaging cameras — detecting smouldering embers or hazardous substances. The German Firefighters’ Association now refers to unmanned aerial vehicles as an important tactical resource. In 2025, it published its first nationwide technical recommendation for procurement, training, and deployment.
Pilot projects go one step further: In Munich and Wiesbaden, for example, automated drones take off immediately after an alarm is triggered. They provide the command centre with high-resolution aerial and thermal images even before the first responders arrive, enabling better operational planning.
And as part of the federal automated drone deployment from a control centre project, emergency responders are testing the direct deployment of drones from the command centre to obtain an early situational overview in the event of traffic accidents, wildfires, or emergencies. The project is funded, among others, by the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
France: Rouen and Normandy Lead the Way
A look at France shows how far other countries have progressed in their trials as reported by Medscape’s French edition. In the Rouen metropolitan area, defibrillators are soon to be delivered by drone to people suffering from cardiac arrest. This initiative began with a partnership between SAMU Rouen and the Normandy-based company Delivrone. SAMU (Service d’Aide Médicale Urgente) is the French emergency medical service.
In 2024, doctors and engineers tested the technology in Forges-les-Eaux, Normandy, France. By the end of 2025, a drone base had been established at the Rouen University Hospital in Bois-Guillaume, France, designed to cover an area of approximately 200 km2. According to the plan, the drone flies at about 85 km/h at an altitude of 80 m, drops off the defibrillator via a tether, and then returns to base.
Another French pilot project involves laboratory samples: In October 2024, a drone route was launched between Verneuil-sur-Avre Hospital — which does not have its own laboratory — and the Cerballiance laboratory in L’Aigle.
By May 2026, drones had completed around 1400 flights; the average transport time was 21 minutes.
Why Germany Lacks Nationwide Coverage
As convincing as these scenarios sound, there are still some hurdles to overcome. Drones must fly safely without endangering people on the ground.
They require permits, reliable communication, weather resilience, landing or drop procedures, data protection rules, and clear liability provisions.
Added to this is integration with emergency dispatch centres. A drone is only useful if it becomes part of the emergency response chain: alerting, flight authorisation, tracking, communication with first responders, documentation, and feedback must all work together automatically.
Public acceptance is also crucial. Members of the public must know what to do when a drone drops a defibrillator. Control centre staff, in turn, must decide when deployment is worthwhile. And policymakers must clarify who will finance operations, maintenance, and personnel. There are many unanswered questions.