Sistemas aéreos no tripulados y espacio aéreo en Europa. Una combinación estratégica

Resumo

Aeronautics is a crucial industry of importance for the European Unión and its Member States. Unmmaned Aircraft Systems (UAS) represent the next step in aerospace evolution that will reduce the cost of managing European security and spaw new comercial opportunities to exploit its disruptive technologies in other fields. In this way, it is becoming clear that, to take advantage of technologies already in place, UAS must be available to the wider civilian market. Because military activity is today restricted to operational air traffic environments, there is no ready route to inserting UAS into the wider General Air Traffic environment. The careful and protacted negotiations preceding each military UAS flight transiting civil airspace, en-route to the security of segregated airspace for its operation, are far too inhibiting for comercial activities. There are fundamental obstacles that is impeding UAS truly realice their potential and it is vital that they have full, un-restricted accesss to non-segregated airspace. A common European political and industrial UAS strategy has become essential to remove the obstacles preventing the growth and consolidation of the technology and industrial UAS base. Such a strategy should address the way and means to create a harmonised European regulatory framework which allow rapid insertion of UAS into non-segregated airspace. UAS are clearly bound to operate in the European airspace without borders. It is time to lay down the basis to facilitate the legal, technological and operational development for these systems.