The Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia (CASA) has published a summary of its consultation on how regulation can better support uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) research and development.
The discussion primarily looked at how new drone technology is tested and developed. It considered ways to make approvals faster and easier, reduce delays and paperwork, allow more flexible licensing and registration during testing, and tools like trial environments and approved test sites.
CASA said respondents supported a more proportionate, risk-based approach for R&D, and called for clearer and more predictable processes.
Support for regulatory sandboxes was high. Respondents viewed sandboxes as a mechanism to enable controlled experimentation outside existing regulatory constraints. This was seen as particularly valuable where current rules do not readily accommodate novel technologies or concepts of operation.
However, respondents emphasised that sandbox arrangements would require clearly defined scope, eligibility criteria, operating conditions and timeframes. Transparent CASA engagement and clearly articulated exit pathways were also considered essential to maintaining safety assurance.
Feedback on the proposed expansion of the excluded category was mixed, which the authority noted reflects “tension between support in the industry for regulatory simplification and concerns about maintaining appropriate levels of safety assurance”.
Respondents engaged in autonomy, detect and avoid and BVLOS development suggested improvements, which included clearer development maturity tiers, staged approvals aligned with technical progress and more predictable testing pathways to support incremental advancement toward operational capability.
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Image: CASA