EASA’s “Open” Category for Military UAS: Opportunities and Limitations in the Field of Airworthiness
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) plans to establish a sole risk-based set of regulations for drones to grant access to European airspace, thus opening a multibillion-euro market. One part of this new regulation set is the so-called “open” category, imposing only a minim...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2018-07-01
|
| Series: | Aerospace |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/5/3/70 |
| _version_ | 1819015169258291200 |
|---|---|
| author | Oliver Hirling Florian Holzapfel |
| author_facet | Oliver Hirling Florian Holzapfel |
| author_sort | Oliver Hirling |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) plans to establish a sole risk-based set of regulations for drones to grant access to European airspace, thus opening a multibillion-euro market. One part of this new regulation set is the so-called “open” category, imposing only a minimum set of regulations. The EASA’s approach presents a strong converse to traditional and prescriptive airworthiness regulations. For decades, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have been state-of-the-art assets in military forces. Aiming at the fulfilment of complex missions in extreme environments, in different theatres of operation, and with different partners, military UAS need to be reliable, safe, and interoperable. Therefore, NATO established internationally accepted airworthiness standards. However, these standards might be too severe to be adhered to by small, commercial, off-the-shelf UAS in the up-to-25 kg category, preventing the military from benefiting from the now fast-growing civil drone market. Based on a sound literature review, the paper presents the EASA’s upcoming regulations for civil UAS and discusses if they are applicable to military UAS. Possible opportunities, challenges, and limitations of applying the approach for the military are shown. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:27:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3bb091701878403e8fea1bb022b4b086 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-4310 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:27:28Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Aerospace |
| spelling | doaj.art-3bb091701878403e8fea1bb022b4b0862022-12-21T19:18:59ZengMDPI AGAerospace2226-43102018-07-01537010.3390/aerospace5030070aerospace5030070EASA’s “Open” Category for Military UAS: Opportunities and Limitations in the Field of AirworthinessOliver Hirling0Florian Holzapfel1Institute of Flight System Dynamics, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching bei München, GermanyInstitute of Flight System Dynamics, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching bei München, GermanyThe European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) plans to establish a sole risk-based set of regulations for drones to grant access to European airspace, thus opening a multibillion-euro market. One part of this new regulation set is the so-called “open” category, imposing only a minimum set of regulations. The EASA’s approach presents a strong converse to traditional and prescriptive airworthiness regulations. For decades, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have been state-of-the-art assets in military forces. Aiming at the fulfilment of complex missions in extreme environments, in different theatres of operation, and with different partners, military UAS need to be reliable, safe, and interoperable. Therefore, NATO established internationally accepted airworthiness standards. However, these standards might be too severe to be adhered to by small, commercial, off-the-shelf UAS in the up-to-25 kg category, preventing the military from benefiting from the now fast-growing civil drone market. Based on a sound literature review, the paper presents the EASA’s upcoming regulations for civil UAS and discusses if they are applicable to military UAS. Possible opportunities, challenges, and limitations of applying the approach for the military are shown.http://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/5/3/70UASairworthinessmilitaryEASA“open” category |
| spellingShingle | Oliver Hirling Florian Holzapfel EASA’s “Open” Category for Military UAS: Opportunities and Limitations in the Field of Airworthiness Aerospace UAS airworthiness military EASA “open” category |
| title | EASA’s “Open” Category for Military UAS: Opportunities and Limitations in the Field of Airworthiness |
| title_full | EASA’s “Open” Category for Military UAS: Opportunities and Limitations in the Field of Airworthiness |
| title_fullStr | EASA’s “Open” Category for Military UAS: Opportunities and Limitations in the Field of Airworthiness |
| title_full_unstemmed | EASA’s “Open” Category for Military UAS: Opportunities and Limitations in the Field of Airworthiness |
| title_short | EASA’s “Open” Category for Military UAS: Opportunities and Limitations in the Field of Airworthiness |
| title_sort | easa s open category for military uas opportunities and limitations in the field of airworthiness |
| topic | UAS airworthiness military EASA “open” category |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/5/3/70 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT oliverhirling easasopencategoryformilitaryuasopportunitiesandlimitationsinthefieldofairworthiness AT florianholzapfel easasopencategoryformilitaryuasopportunitiesandlimitationsinthefieldofairworthiness |