Around two and a half years ago, the European Commission presented its “EU Drone Strategy 2.0”, a conceptual framework for promoting unmanned aviation in general and ultimately the UAS/AAM industry in particular. For more than three years now, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has shown us how crucial unmanned systems are for the European Union's defense capability. And that competitive disadvantages and international dependencies must be avoided at all costs in this crucial issue.
However, consistent support for the drone economy at European level has yet to materialize. This is quite different in China, for example, where the state is investing massively in this technology of the future. And in the United States of America, the Trump administration is now also trying to expand its capabilities in the area of defending against uncooperative drones (“Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty”) and to provide massive support for domestic UAS production (“Unleashing American Drone Dominance”) with two recent decrees. For example, by ordering the implementation of practicable solutions for BVLOS flights within a few weeks in order to enable commercial drone operations beyond visual range across the board.
Initiatives that the domestic drone economy would also urgently need. But they still seem a long way off. “By being hesitant and reluctant, Europe runs the risk of finally losing touch with the markets in China and the USA. Just as we have already experienced with solar energy and artificial intelligence,” warns Dr. Gerald Wissel, CEO of UAV DACH. “The European Commission must now take decisive action to ensure that we remain competitive and capable of acting in a key technology such as unmanned aviation. The financial and structural promotion of the UAS/AAM industry in Europe is not only economically, socially and ecologically sensible, but also of crucial importance in terms of security policy.”