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Currently, the applications of UAS are focused on the military field and devoted, in the case of
the European Countries, mainly to intelligence and force protection applications in
international operations. The main reason for this fact has been the difficulties for flying in the
European Skies, integrated with commercial air traffic. Nevertheless, some considerations
need to be taken into account by the different European MoDs:
• Crew training need to be performed before sending the crew to the theater, to avoid
impact on real operations. Trained crews need also to maintain operational
capabilities during the long periods whe they are not deployed in the theater.
• Sooner or later, current international operations could finish and the deployed UAS
will be coming back to the Country.
• Usefulness of UAS is not limited to international operations. They are quite helpful for
many of the missions that military forces perform usually in the Country, providing
support to civil authorities in case of emergencies or improving surveillance
capabilities in border control or other police operations.
Flying in a segregated air space training centre could be the solution for the first problem but it
will not be useful for the second and third bullet. A solution is necessary for military and civil
UAS to be used regularly in Europe. Main difficulties are:
• All current UAS were not designed for airworthiness certification and, even if now a
regulatory framework start to be established for military certification, it will be
impossible for most of them to obtain a type Certificate.
• Certification is not only linked to the safety level of the platform but to the complete
system, including data link between the aircraft and the Ground Control Station (GCS)
• UAS are not really “Unmanned”. They are RPVs: ”Remote Piloted Vehicles”.
Nevertheless there is no regulation about the capabilities and qualifications to be
requested to the crew members. Current training is mainly performed by the
manufacturer of the UAS, base on their experience.
• Procedures for flying UAS need to be validated form safety point of view and
integrated within the current Air Traffic Management System
• With an approved Flight Plan, a trained and qualified crew, and a safe and certified
system, it could be easy to integrate UAS in Controlled Airspace. Nevertheless, sense &
avoid function remains a key issue to substitute the capabilities of the pilot in case of
emergency or when flying in non controlled air space.
• In the few cases in which a national regulatory framework exists, it is different for each
Country, making impossible, from a legal point of view, to cross European borders with
a flying UAS.
The situation of Spain, is analyzed as an example of the current status in Europe, describing
some running Airworthiness Certification processes, both in the military and in the civil
framework, as well as giving some examples of operational demos performed with military
UAS but focused on civil applications like border control, maritime patrol and emergency
management.