ASKA, the drive-and-fly hybrid-electric VTOL mobility company, has been selected for Cohort 6 of Hatch’s Dimension X global open innovation challenge, where it will embark on a proof-of-concept for next-generation solutions for rapid emergency response. Hatch is the innovation centre of HTX, the Home Team Science and Technology Agency of Singapore.
“Singapore’s 64 islands pose challenges for emergency evacuation and logistics, including dense terrain, limited landing zones, overhead obstacles, and constrained access routes, present unique challenges for emergency evacuations and logistics,” said ASKA in a press release. “Although fly-only eVTOL aircraft are often seen as the next generation of emergency air ambulances, they still require ambulance transport at both ends, depend on dedicated vertiports or helipads, and cannot land in areas with trees, uneven ground, power lines, or narrow approach paths. This forces multiple vehicle transfers and adds delays that affect survival rates.
“The ASKA™ A5 stands out from other VTOL designs with its unique ability to fold its wings and drive like a regular ground vehicle. This combination of ground mobility with vertical flight overcomes delays and hurdles by enabling a drive → fly → drive mission chain that removes two intermediate transfers. The vehicle can drive directly to and recover the patient, launch airborne from a secure point, fly between islands, and then land on the hospital’s helipad or drive the patient straight into the emergency entrance – dramatically reducing total mission time by eliminating multiple transfer steps and potentially saving more lives. Each mission becomes faster, more efficient, and more effective given the added flexibility.
“This capability is especially valuable in rescue scenarios where helicopters or fly-only eVTOLs cannot land, due to trees, buildings, or uneven terrain or overhead wires. ASKA A5 can fly to land in a small clearing, fold its wings, and drive directly to the patient – something no other vertical-lift system can do.
“At Singapore’s projected scale of up to 200,000 evacuations and first responder events per year, even partial adoption of ASKA’s platform could:
• Shorten evacuation times by ~35%
• Improve survival outcomes by reducing time-to-care
• Eliminate two ambulance legs per mission, freeing up critical resources
• Reduce personnel exposure by up to 80%
• Lower operating costs by hundreds of millions of dollars annually
“ASKA’s drive-and-fly architecture also addresses emerging needs in an environment where logistical support is contested. The U.S. Department of War has publicly identified gaps in distributed sustainment and the requirement for autonomous, heavy-lift VTOL mobility that can operate without fixed infrastructure. Singapore’s island geography closely mirrors Indo-Pacific operational challenges and realities, making ASKA’s selection a meaningful validation for forces operating across archipelagos and in distributed maritime networks, where island-hopping, decentralized logistics, and rapid mobility are essential.”
For more information
https://www.einpresswire.com/article/873594110/aska-selected-for-singapore-s-dimension-x-to-revolutionize-emergency-medical-evacuations-and-contested-logistics