The FAA awarded a $440 million extension through 2017 to Lockheed Martin for continued support of the National Airspace System (NAS) Integration Support Contract (NISC). Extending the NISC allows the FAA to have quick access to a team of high-level technical, engineering and information technology specialists where it needs to implement or integrate equipment and components related to the modernization of the U.S. air traffic management system, NextGen. Continue reading
Category Archives: Regulatory Matters
Queensland Researchers Make Progress on Detect-and-Avoid
Queensland University of Technology Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) researchers have made what’s believed to be a world-first breakthrough for small Unmanned Aircraft (UA), developing an on board system that has enabled a UA to detect another aircraft using vision while in flight. Continue reading
FAA Publishes Six UAS Test Site FAQs and POCs
The Federal Aviation Administration is now working to have the first of the six unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) research and test sites operational within 180 days.These sites will promote critical research into the certification and operational requirements necessary to safely integrate these vehicles into the US national airspace. Continue reading
ULTRA Consortium Conclusions
ULTRA is a study project funded by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme, which had as purpose to propose, based on currently available technology, a way forward for the short term insertion of civil Light RPAS in European Airspace. Continue reading
Spanish RPAS Community Workshop
A three-day workshop on RPAS has been organised by AESA (Spanish CAA) with the support of EUROCONTROL and AERPAS (Spanish RPAS association (28-30/01/2014) Continue reading
US Dept of Interior & FAA Sign MoA for sUAS Ops
The Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Aviation Services (OAS) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) regarding operation of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) in Class G airspace. Continue reading
External Consultation of JARUS Deliverable AMC RPAS.1309
The JARUS deliverable “AMC RPAS.1309” and the associated document “SCOPING PAPER to AMC RPAS.1309” are now available on the JARUS website for external consultation. These documents are the output of more than 3 years of work by a dedicated working group within JARUS. Continue reading
AUVSI Encourages FAA to Allow Limited Small UAS Operations
On 27 Jan., AUVSI sent a letter to the FAA encouraging the agency to allow limited unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations before the small UAS rule is finalized. The letter also urged the FAA to stick to its newest deadline for publication of the small UAS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), and to make the NPRM a top priority for 2014. Continue reading