Interim report submitted for government commission on unmanned aircraft

Published: 08 June 2022 13:35Updated: 08 June 13:35

In the 2022 appropriation directions the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration (hereafter referred to as LFV) was given the government commission to establish systems and services for unmanned aircraft, UTM (Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management). On April 11 LFV submitted its first interim report to the government.

– Unmanned aircraft comprises the airspace user group which numerically has been growing the fastest for a number of years now. The development of these services is a necessity for drone activities on a large scale, not least with regard to flight safety. The services which LFV has been commissioned to develop mean that we can begin to unlock the environmental and financial potential which drones offer society, says deputy director-general Magnus Corell who is overseeing the project for the government commission.

European regulations for U-space (the EU name for UTM) have been in place since 2021 but further European guidelines are being developed and will be published in the summer of 2022 or later. National regulations in this field are in the process of being updated.

– In order for the new UTM ecosystem to be complete and the commission to be fully attended to, in principle four groups of services need to be addressed – U-space services, common information services, services for providers of air traffic control services and services for other stakeholders who need to implement restrictions on airspace. A plan for the upcoming work has been drawn up. Some parts of this will be carried out by LFV in collaboration with Swedavia and the Swedish Police Authority, says Roger Li, who is project owner for the government commission.

The final report for the government commission must be submitted by June 15, 2023 at the latest.