The reason Dien Bien tested 6,000 unmanned flights

At the end of June, the People’s Committee of Dien Bien province approved a controlled pilot project (sandbox) to develop low-level spatial economy. This is the result of nearly 6 months of coordination between Dien Bien, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of National Defense and two businesses Vietnam Post and FPT.

About 6,000 test flights will be deployed. The project aims to verify three to five typical UAV application models, aiming to reduce 20-30% of time or cost compared to traditional methods.

At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Science and Technology, on July 31, Mr. Nguyen Van Thuat, Deputy Director of Digital Economy and Digital Society, said this was not a random choice. Dien Bien is a mountainous province with divided terrain, high logistics costs, and many remote areas with difficulty accessing medical services, transporting goods and production materials.

The province also has borders with Laos and China, a large forest area, and often creates the need for resource monitoring, forest fire prevention, rescue and natural disaster response.

“Those are all problems where low-range space technology can make a clear difference compared to traditional management methods,” Mr. Thuat shared.

The parties conducted field surveys, assessed the terrain, socio-economic development needs, and analyzed requirements for national defense, security, flight safety and possible risks that may arise. From there, test areas, flight corridors, application areas and interdisciplinary coordination mechanisms are determined, according to the principle of “both creating space for innovation and strictly controlling risks”.

The controlled trial (sandbox) project for low-range space economic development in Dien Bien targets three main application groups. In agriculture, UAVs are used to sow seeds, spray pesticides, monitor crops, and transport supplies and agricultural products after harvest.

With logistics, flying vehicles serve to transport medicine, medical supplies, medical samples and essential goods to remote areas. The remaining group focuses on digital mapping, terrain monitoring, forest and resource management, natural disaster warning and public service support.

Sandbox in Dien Bien allows the application of a controlled exemption mechanism, creating conditions for technology businesses, especially domestic UAV manufacturing businesses, to research and perfect technology in real conditions. Specifically, businesses can be exempted or applied flexibly to two minimum flight conditions, reducing 60 out of 69 requirements for testing, frequency assessment, electromagnetic compatibility, anti-electronic interference and a number of other quality assessment requirements.

Mr. Thuat said that this is the first province to build a sandbox mechanism for digital technology. The results will be a reference basis for perfecting the national policy on low-range space economic development.

According to him, the low-range space economy is emerging as a new growth driver. Looking at the world, China identifies this as a strategic economic sector. The US, Japan, South Korea and many European countries are also testing new service models based on low-altitude flying vehicles.

These countries not only develop flying vehicles, but also build industrial and service ecosystems. “UAVs are just a means, and the economic value lies in the technology ecosystem, data and accompanying services,” Mr. Thuat said, adding that this is also the approach of the Ministry of Science and Technology when researching the development of low-range space economy in Vietnam.

At the press conference, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bui Hoang Phuong assessed that the sandbox in Dien Bien is proof that legal regulations on testing new models exist, even in complex fields such as UAVs. “The mechanism is complete, the remaining problem is implementation,” he said.