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The project will use drones powered by renewable energy sources on a 165-mile superhighway connecting the airspace above cities including Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry and Rugby. The corridor will enable inspection times of infrastructure to be cut significantly and speed up parcel delivery times from hours to minutes.

SATE is based at Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL)'s Kirkwall Airport in the Orkney Islands. Phase one of the SATE project allowed HIAL, with support from partners, to create the UK's first low-carbon aviation test centre running from a commercial airport. This phase of the project expands on the work of the original project to create a UK Centre for Excellence of Sustainable Aviation Systems. This will enable SATE to host pre-commercial demonstrations of novel aviation technologies with proven use cases to commercialise clean innovation in a real-world environment. Use cases will include scheduled airline route, offshore energy services, NHS activities, island and remote region deliveries and environmental survey and inspection. The use case demonstrations to be undertaken as part of the project will have a positive impact on island communities. They will improve quality of life, and address issues of social exclusion and access deprivation (including access to health services). Within the SATE project and partner organisations, at least 45 new highly skilled jobs will be created. Many of the roles created will be based in remote communities around Scotland representing high-value roles.