Air Transport

Europe's unmanned air vehicle developers need a chance to demonstrate to regulators - and the public - that their systems can operate safely over a large area of land for the technology to make the leap into civil applications.

That is the thinking behind a bid by stakeholders in the ParcAberporth unmanned systems centre in west Wales to create a permanent inland segregated airspace zone around the site to allow the unfettered, regular testing of UAVs.

Although UAVs have been able to fly from ParcAberporth - which is owned by the Welsh government and the private West Wales Airport - since the site opened four years ago, the area of segregated airspace covers just a 11km (6nm) radius and a 5,000ft (1,525m) ceiling, permitting only line-of-sight flights. Longer-range operations can take place over sea, using the Qinetiq-run Ministry of Defence firing range over Cardigan Bay, but only with permission from the military.

That situation is not ideal, says Paul Cremin, strategy and development manager for UAVs at the Welsh Assembly government, which is behind the Airspace Change Proposal submission to the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Aside from the red tape involved in obtaining authorisation for each flight, many operators do not want to risk testing expensive payloads on unproven airframes over the sea. "It is vitally important that we get the airspace extension at ParcAberporth, particularly over land. We have to be able to operate independently of the MoD," he says.

Carl Davies, project manager at the ParcAberporth-based West Wales UAV Centre, a joint venture between Qinetiq and the airport owner that organises and advises on UAV flying at the site on behalf of operators, says the change is essential for UAVs to make the move into the civil arena. "Industry really needs to start flying. The regulators are struggling to find out what it is all about. Until then they are inevitably going to be cautious."

Several tenants have established operations at ParcAberporth, including Italy's Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems. The Thales-led team behind the UK's Watchkeeper tactical surveillance programme will also begin tests there around November, establishing up to 60 jobs. However, Davies says the airspace extension would help attract the additional businesses the park needs to be a success: "There are customers waiting to see what we are doing. If we don't get the airspace, it will be challenging."

The proposal will go for public consultation later this year, with ParcAberporth hoping for a decision to begin operations around November 2009.