The European Defence Agency awarded a contract on 16 February to a consortium headed by SAGEM Défense Sécurité to carry out the second Technology Study for the Agency’s work on Long Endurance Unmanned Air Vehicles (LE UAVs), covering “Sense and Avoid Technologies”.
LE UAVs, which are likely to play an increasingly important role in surveillance and intelligence, are one of the Agency’s four flagship programmes. A number of different national initiatives on UAVs are under way in EU countries, and the Agency has been tasked to encourage European collaboration in this field.
“Sense and Avoid Technologies” were one of the two technology areas selected from an initial listing of more than 10 critical technologies of interest to the participating Member States for technology demonstration studies funded by the Agency.
The growing number of the various missions conducted using LE-UAVs requires the safe use of these vehicles and the insertion of the UAVs into civilian airspace. The ‘Sense and Avoid Technologies’ are key issues for the operation and training of the UAVs.
The technology demonstration study will map the various national and international regulations concerning the insertion of UAVs into civilian airspace, define the requirements for this task and offer the potential technical solutions. The proposed solutions will be tested by simulation and their impact on Air Traffic Management (ATM) procedures will be assessed.
The Consortium, which includes co-contractors TNO Defence, Security and Safety, Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) and Especialidades Eléctricas SA (ESPELSA), offers extensive technical background and experience in the area of the study, facilities for development, production, integration, testing and maintenance, and qualified personnel and completed project references.