Unmanned aircraft to share European civilian airspace
The European Defence Agency announced today that it had awarded a contract worth Euro 500,000 with a consortium of defence and aerospace companies to develop a detailed roadmap for integrating Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) into European airspace so that they can fly routinely with other air traffic by the end of 2015 at the latest
The contract was awarded to the Air4All consortium, consisting of BAE Systems with BAE Systems Operations Platform Solutions, Alenia Aeronautica, Dassault Aviation, Diehl BGT Defence, EADS CASA, EADS Defence & Security Germany, Galileo Avionica, QinetiQ, Rheinmetall Defence Electronics, SAAB AB, Sagem Defence Systems and Thales Aerospace as Co-contractors.
The project will help European stakeholders such as airworthiness authorities, air traffic management bodies, procurement agencies, industry and research institutes to develop a joint agenda for common European UAV activities, leading to specific projects addressing security and commercial, as well as defence, uses of UAVs.
"This is a key initiative for Europe that provides a nucleus for setting realistic goals that will lead to Unmanned Aircraft Systems operating in total harmony with other airspace users," said Project Director, Dave Kershaw, on behalf of the Air4All consortium.
