The conference marks a cornerstone in the efforts undertaken by the European Defence Agency and the European Commission in the field of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. As the first European joint civil/defence initiative in the field, it widely opens the path tosustainable technological innovation and offers a bridge into a futureEuropean UAS market. For European decision-makers, it creates animportant opportunity to address the subject within a wider community,outlining its benefits for the European citizens and the sharedapproach among all end user communities.
EDA and the EC have joined forces in this civil-military approach toaddressing the challenges which hinder broad usage of UAS and aim,through this conference, to:
- increase public awareness on the European industry base in the UAS sector;
- increase public awareness about the significant potential of UAS applications for the benefit of the citizens as well as for their governments;
- present the potentialities offered by UAS in the protection of our planet environment and resources;
- raise political awareness to overcome current obstacles in Europe to the use of UAS.
Conference program details will follow shortly.
Background Information
UAS are a key element for present and future Common Security andDefence Policy operations. Furthermore, it is estimated that UAS willbecome increasingly important for civilian end-user communities – forexample borders control, maritime safety and environmental monitoring.Despite this growing civil/security/defence need, a true European UASmarket has not materialised yet.
Since its tasking by the Ministerial Steering Board in May 2007, theEuropean Defence Agency has been working on the Integration of UnmannedAircraft Systems into the European Airspace. EDA has already takenseveral initiatives covering all relevant areas linked to UAS AirTraffic Insertion, ranging from technology development, rules andregulations support to standardisation and demonstration.
The MIDCAS Sense & Avoid project is a good example of an EDAtechnology / standardisation demonstrator initiative, providing the keytechnology for the safe and secure integration of UAS. In the area ofrules and regulations progress is being made in partnership withEurocontrol and also the needed Airworthiness work on UAS is beingcovered in the Military Airworthiness Authorities (MAWA) Forum.
Furthermore EDA is preparing a harmonised European approach towards the World Radio Conference 2012 with a study on “Military Frequency Spectrum Allocations Required for the Insertion into the General Air Traffic” of UAS (SIGAT) and is coordinating with ESA on Command & Control/Air Traffic Control issues.
