September 3–4, 2026 marked an exciting milestone: the official kick-off of the DiFeRent CORUS SESAR 3 Project.
Project partners gathered at EUROCONTROL’s headquarters in Brussels to lay the foundations for this two-year Exploratory Research project, co-funded by the European Union.
DiFeRent CORUS aims to develop a new set of Digital Flight Rules (DFR) for the safe integration of emerging aviation—including unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), vertical-capable aircraft (VCA), and innovative air mobility (IAM)—into shared airspace.
During the meeting, we explored the current state of flight rules and the need for new approaches that enable Advanced Air Mobility and UAS to operate safely, while helping regulation keep pace with evolving operational needs.
A significant part of the discussion focused on establishing the project’s core assumptions and identifying the tools and methodologies needed to deliver key exploitable results with an impact extending beyond the project’s lifetime.
We also emphasized the importance of close collaboration with stakeholders to develop scalable solutions that address both current and future operational needs. Stakeholder engagement will remain central to DiFeRent CORUS through workshops and events that will support the development of the Digital Flight Rules concept and generate evidence for the project’s proposals.
Beyond the technical discussions, the kick-off meeting offered a valuable opportunity to strengthen synergies across the consortium, build new connections, and establish a solid foundation for the collaboration ahead.
Source: LinkedIn