With every sighting of illegally operated drones, calls for technological and regulatory concepts to secure airspace and protect sensitive areas on the ground are growing louder. This is true among the general public as well as among companies that want to use unmanned systems. And not least in the UAS industry. “For commercial UAS applications, we need practical rules, planning security, and reliability as soon as possible,” demands Dr. Gerald Wissel, CEO of UAV DACH.
The list of things that need to be put in place in the near future ranges from strengthening European cooperation to providing budgetary resources for the procurement and continuous development of detection and defense technologies. An important requirement for being able to distinguish between legally and illegally operated drones at any given time with the help of a complete air situation picture would also be mandatory electronic visibility for all airspace participants. Restrictions on legal UAS operations, on the other hand, are completely unsuitable for countering illegal drone use. And they would be extremely damaging to Europe in terms of the development of this important future industry. “Regulations to defend against illegal drones must not be to the disadvantage of the commercial UAS industry,” Dr. Gerald Wissel therefore makes unmistakably clear.
UAV DACH is committed to safe and economically sustainable UAS flight operations. This also includes technical and regulatory frameworks for dealing with uncooperative, illegally operated drones. In a joint working group with the German Aerospace Industries Association (BDLI), experts from UAV DACH have developed specific recommendations for action for the German federal government, which could also promote these at the European level.