Emergency services explore drones, swarms and beyond visual line of sight operations

Drones are becoming a routine tool for UK emergency services, but regulators, technologists and operators are now working to expand what’s possible and safe in complex airspace.

In an episode of For Every Response recorded at The Emergency Tech Show 2025, Sophie O’Sullivan from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) outlines the current approach. “We’re really trying to push the boundary of what you can currently do with drones,” she says, “but in a way that we minimise the risk of loss of control, we minimise the risk of mid-air collision.”

The CAA has introduced a PDRA01 service, cutting application times from days to about 30 minutes. Sophie adds that the SORA platform provides a framework for more complex beyond visual line of sight operations: “This is a risk framework for drone use that’s been created by over 60 countries to enable specific category operations in the BVLOS category.” Real-world operations include hospital-to-hospital pathology transport across London and supporting police operations with the Schiebel Camcopter S-100, a drone weighing over 100kg.

Emergency services can’t always wait for approval. The CAA is responding with what it calls Type B operations, where organisations can carry out urgent flights and provide data retrospectively. “We understand that there may be instances where you need to respond to do something rapidly with your drone,” Sophie says. Keith Bennett, formerly a police sergeant who managed drone pilots in West Midlands Police, highlights the practical impact: “There are those times where pilots may need to, in an instant which is critical, breach those regulations. The Type B policy gives the organisation that framework.”

Beyond current operations, research into drone swarms is beginning to show what could be possible in emergency response. Mauro Innocente, founder of SwarmMind, explains: “[Drones] self-organise, they collaborate, and higher-level capabilities emerge. Controlling emergence allows you to design them properly to do what you want them to do.”

Swarm technology could address the scale of modern challenges such as wildfires. “Wildfires are becoming more frequent, larger, more intense, and they last longer than ever before,” Mauro says. “2025 is a record-breaking year in terms of number of wildfires and total burnt area… This is a problem for which the fire services are not ready.” Swarms offer advantages such as early detection, persistent monitoring and immediate intervention, while remaining robust even if some drones fail.

Even so, autonomy and integration remain challenges. “How do you design the agent behaviour so that when they all interact, they do exactly what you want?” Mauro asks. He emphasises that drones should be integrated into response systems from the start, not added on later: “If you add it later, it will be clashing with other systems that were not designed to interact with this one.”

Regulators are enabling experimentation. Sophie stresses that swarms are already possible: “If you’ve got those mitigations in place, we are able to enable swarms today.” But she notes that fully autonomous self-organising machines still need oversight and legal frameworks: “We’re working with the Law Commission to look at how you might have the legal infrastructure when it comes to actually having full autonomy.”

The discussion also highlights practical applications across emergency services. Keith notes drones improve situational awareness for police commanders: “You can see exactly what’s happening on the ground so that you can make decisions around resourcing.” For fire and rescue, drones can carry medical kits or monitor dangerous environments. Sophie adds: “Essentially, you need to look at the elements and use each of the elements to the best of their ability. Humans have got limitations, but they are very good at certain things. Drones are better at some things.”

The UK lags behind countries such as Canada and the US in wildfire drone research, but regulators and technologists are working together to build safe systems. As Mauro says: “This will need the collaboration of all the different actors, from the emergency services to the regulators and all kinds of technologists, working together to make this technology a reality in a not-so-distant future.”

As drone technology evolves, the collaboration between emergency services, regulators, and researchers remains crucial. Sophie emphasises: “We want to work with you before operations, but we understand you need that flexibility.” Mauro adds that the potential of swarms is vast, but careful design and integration are key: “Controlling emergence allows you to design them properly to do what you want them to do.” For now, drones are extending human capability, whether tracking wildfires, delivering medical supplies, or giving commanders a live view of an incident, and the next few years may see these tools become an essential part of the UK’s emergency response landscape.

Listen to the full episode below.

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