EU: Blueprint published to make drones safe and secure

At the request of the European Commission, the Single European Sky Air traffic management Research Joint Undertaking has published a blueprint to make the use of drone in law-level airspace safe, secure, and environmentally friendly. The document outlines a vision for the so-called U-space – a set of new services and specific procedures designed to support safe, efficient, and secure access to airspace for large numbers of drones. Aspects such as registration of drones and drones operators, their e-identification, and geo-dancing are expected to be in place by 2019. As next steps, the European Aviation Safety Agency is working on producing EU-wide safety rules ‘that are proportionate to the risk of the operation’, while the Commission will finance projects focused on the integration of drones into the aviation system.