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"The U.S. is going to have to abide by any new European regulations—if they don’t, then they simply won’t be able to fly in here."
These are not the words of a European Commission (EC) spokesman talking about new hush-kit rules, but of a European UAV (uninhabited air vehicle) industry executive outlining the consequences of new regulations currently being discussed for UAV operations within Europe.
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| SAGEM’s Crecerelle saw action in Kosovo.
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Technologies for safety
On April 30, EURO UVS, a federation of companies and institutional entities from 23 countries (www.euro-uvs.org), submitted a proposal to the EC for a study on what technologies would be needed for European and other UAVs to fly safely in controlled European airspace. Technologies under consideration for UCARE Network (www-ucare-network.org), a program pioneered by EURO UVS, include see- and-avoid systems and transponders.
The study would seek to develop common airworthiness standards and would also address air traffic management issues. If approved, it would be funded as part of the EC’s R&D Framework program. In November 2000, the French civil aviation administration DGAC (Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile) awarded EURO UVS a one-year contract to develop airworthiness proposals for civil UAVs based on current Joint Aviation Requirements.
"There are at least 35 technologies we are looking at," says Peter van Blyenburgh, president of EURO UVS. "For example, we are considering the use of low-cost radar altimeters—UAVs flying in controlled European airspace are going to have to give far more accurate positioning information than [is] currently available. Even UAVs the size of Predators and Eagles will have to give positioning information and possibly have auto-land and auto-takeoff capabilities."
The issue is becoming particularly important in Europe as larger UAVs enter the continent’s military arsenals and relentless traffic growth puts pressure on the available airspace. According to Blyenburgh, only Finland and Sweden have ranges that will allow "an operationally realistic UAV training scenario to be played out. However, the terrain on these ranges and their climatic conditions are not representative of the vast majority of the envisaged UAV deployment (crisis) areas in the world."
In the recent fighting in Bosnia and Kosovo, UAVs launched from neighboring states into controlled airspace caused a number of air traffic management problems. And with European countries wanting to acquire larger and more capable UAVs, some sort of regulation is becoming increasingly likely. EADS and the German research establishment DLR have jointly planned trials to equip a VFW 614 transport aircraft with a simulated uninhabited combat air vehicle (UCAV) flight control system and navigation suite. These trials are aimed at determining whether UCAVs and UAVs can indeed operate safely alongside inhabited aircraft in controlled airspace within Europe.
Forming alliances
EURO UVS is working with a U.S. group, the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, to find common regulatory procedures for UAV operations. But because their industries are very distinct, there are bound to be differences of emphasis in how these regulations will be adopted. European companies are still some distance behind the U.S. in producing large strategic UAVs—such as Global Hawk and Raptor—never mind UCAVs such as the X-45A (Aerospace America, March 2001). But a number of projects that are now under way on the continent could pave the way for much larger European UAVs.
The former DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA), now part of EADS, has reached a strategic agreement with Northrop Grumman to collaborate in several areas of UAV technology. At the Farnborough Air Show in 2000, the two announced they would be setting up a joint project team to evaluate a common unmanned system approach to meeting European airborne stand-off intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance requirements.
"As a completion to battlefield surveillance and target allocation for NATO, several European nations…are significantly involved in SOSTAR [stand-off surveillance and target acquisition radar], a multifunctional new-generation reconnaissance radar. A potential carrier system for this new radar is the HALE [high-altitude long-endurance] drone," according to EADS, which has also been reported as pro-posing a 15,000-kg "Euro-HALE" design with an endurance of 30 hr at 18,200 m.
Because of the civil potential of some of the programs, funding for research into UAV technologies is now coming from central European sources. The EC is partly funding the multinational Heliplat solar-powered high-altitude platform program and the development of a micro-UAV. Last year ESA, together with DASA/EADS of Germany, Lindstrand Balloons of the U.K., and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, completed a first assessment of a concept for a HALE aerostatic craft. This would be a large helium-filled powered airship with an aerodynamic "cigar" shape about 220 m long and 55 m in diameter, carrying payloads of up to 1,000 kg.
Meanwhile, Sweden’s Saab Technologies is reported to be participating in the Australian Aerosonde Robotic Aircraft program, a 15-kg UAV with an endurance of 26 hr. Used for meteorological reporting over the Pacific, the UAV is controlled via an Internet interface.
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| The CL289 is now being upgraded for use by both France and Germany.
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Heightened activity and new challanges
The gulf war kick-started Europe’s UAV industry into a higher gear. During the conflict only one European UAV—the French Mart system—was fielded, with limited results. By the time the Kosovo conflict arrived, France had deployed its EADS CL289 and SAGEM Crecerelle systems, Germany had the CL289 and EMT Luna UAVs in operation, and the U.K. was flying BAE Systems’ Phoenix UAVs.
The Kosovo experience both underlined the importance to Europe’s armed forces of these tactical battlefield surveillance types and their limitations. Poor weather hampered their effectiveness, and losses from accidents were high. According to the U.K.’s National Audit Office, 12 Phoe-nix UAVs, with a combined value of $5.2 million, were lost during the army’s first operational deployment of the system. The underlying lesson for Europe was that it severely lacked a medium-altitude long-endurance type; EADS and its partner CAC Systémes are developing the Fox TS3 as a twin-engined UAV with an 8-hr endurance to fit such a role.
Since Kosovo, there have been a flurry of orders and some significant new developments:
The supply of 80 KZO/Brevel UAVs to the German army by 2002, for target acquisition and battle damage assessment in real time, at ranges of up to 50 km; and the entry into service in 2005 of the STN Atlas Elektronik Taifun lethal UAV, with an endurance of 4 hr and a speed of 250 kph.
The CL289 upgrade program, under way for France and Germany.
The introduction to the Italian army of eight Meteor Mirach 26 and Mirach 150 aircraft, each for reconnaissance applications, by 2002. Italy has also ordered six Predator UAVs from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems of San Diego, Calif.
The amalgamation by the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense of all future UAV requirements into the Watchkeeper program.
One of the key issues for European military UAV managers is interoperability. Besides playing a key role in UCARE, NATO has placed UAV matters under the National Air Force Armaments Group, which is working toward making systems deployed by NATO allies compatible within a military context. It is also coordinating activities with civil air traffic management service providers.
But as the range and performance of UAVs increase along with the sensitivity of their surveillance systems, the idea of regulating their operations in certain areas of the world would appear to compromise their mission effectiveness. The good news is that, so early on in their development, there is a real opportunity for the U.S. and Europe to agree on some common rules for how they can coexist with civil traffic. But how far surveillance data, airframe, propulsion, and control systems can be jointly regulated is another matter.
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