"The most diverse range of stakeholders to have attended a UAS event" was one of the comments following the UAS seminar we organised with solicitors Bird & Bird on 13 October in London. The event focused on the challenges and opportunities for UAS in the commercial market and attracted over 50 senior representatives from organisations including UAS manufacturers, operators, regulators, ANSPs, risk specialists and insurance underwriters.

Whilst the military have been the prime users of UAS for the last decade, the focus is now beginning to shift to commercial applications.  I presented an overview of the challenges (or barriers) to integration; discussed what is being done now to overcome them and then proposed an alternative ‘bottom-up’ approach to enable the earlier introduction of ‘lower risk’ UAS operations – building on the UK CAA’s current approach to VLOS approvals. This led into a discussion by Nick Miller, representing Thales (but also well known in the UAS world as a vice-chair of the ASTRAEA 2 programme) which considered the capabilities that Thales had developed to support military operations and how they were addressing the challenges of transitioning to civil or commercial operations and Ray Mann, owner and managing director of West Wales Airport who explained some of the work that was going on there to test new UAS platforms and technological concepts to address some of the barriers to integration. The presentations were concluded by Adam Piper of Griffiths & Armour – a leading UAS insurer and Mark Stanley of the underwriters Catlin about the insurance and risk issues around operating UAS.

It was clear from both the panel and attendees that the era when the military effectively ‘bankrolled’ UAS development is now over. Whilst UAS have been developed to a level of maturity to support military operations, there are still significant regulatory challenges to be addressed. To make real progress, a fresh approach is needed involving all members of the UAS community. This would enable the earlier introduction of at least some UAS operations. It was also evident that funding will be an issue and that there is an urgent need to find ways to progressively introduce some commercial UAS operations to raise the awareness of operators and provide valuable experience and evidence for decision-making.

Helios is continuing to push for an approach that will enable at least some commercial operations in the near term and will host a follow-up to this seminar next year. Please contact us if you require more information or you wish to take part.

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