International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar is leading coordinated action by member states to address the risks of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) to aviation.
ICAO’s European and North Atlantic Regional Office convened a two day counter-UAS measures workshop this week in response to increasing reports of UAS incursions and related military air activity.
Hosted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Poland in Krakow, the workshop gave Salazar an opportunity to present the evolving threats, and to urge member states to rally around ICAO’s leadership of the sustained and committed international effort that is required in response.
“Effective counter-UAS approaches require a multi-layered system of equipment, working in concert with sound aviation regulations,” the Secretary General said. “Countering the threat posed by UAS to civil aviation also requires coordinated, sustained and committed international attention.”
Delegates and stakeholders from across the civil aviation sector also shared their expertise and identified various collective approaches to managing safety, security, air navigation, cybersecurity and privacy risks. This includes strengthening governance, coordination and information-sharing mechanisms.
Several specific measures were recommended to achieve this. “Interoperability between unmanned traffic management systems and national UAS registries can help authorities distinguish cooperative from non-cooperative drones, and challenges in achieving interoperability among civil and state systems should be addressed,” ICAO reported from the event. “The integration of civil data analytics into state intelligence systems, including data on local trends and incident reports, was also highlighted as a means to anticipate and plan for risks.”
ICAO has developed new integrated risk management guidance to support states and stakeholders as the aviation system evolves. Salazar said this is expected to be issued in the coming months.
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Image: Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar speaking at the C-UAS workshop (ICAO)
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