REGA unveils its new drone for tracking the whereabouts of missing persons

Since last autumn, Swiss Air-Rescue (Rega) has possessed a drone capable of locating missing persons via telephone signals and imagery captured by a thermal camera. The device has been deployed already in Ticino during February and March in fire operations.

Called "RGA-UAV-T1A", it was introduced earlier at Rega's annual press conference at Zurich Airport. It is a drone that can be flown autonomously over large areas and goes into action when helicopters cannot take off due to poor visibility.

Thermal camera images are analyzed automatically, and if a human figure is recognized by the system, it will forward them to a specialist at the rescue center for final evaluation. The drone weighs approximately 25 kilograms and is not capable of recovering localized people. To do so, REGA continues to rely on the use of helicopters or ground rescuers.

2021 was a record-breaking year for the Air Guard, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary on April 27. The Zurich Airport Operations Center organized 18,017 missions, 10.7 percent more than in the previous year, what corresponds to about 50 missions per day.