Implementation of U-space across Europe continues to be fragmented. Christine Berg, the new Head of Unit of Aviation Safety of DG MOVE, emphasised that DG MOVE is committed to implementing U-space across EU and will continue to engage with EU States regularly via the European Network of U-space Stakeholders initiative and other channels. One of the EU States, Belgium, plans to establish U-space airspace in uncontrolled airspace in the first phase and are targeting USSP certification in 2025.
Weather will play a key role in managing unmanned traffic, but its impact on U-space has not been debated much so far. Drone operators already utilise cost-effective weather data sources and are cautious about added expense related to acquiring Weather Information Services. Weather information in U-space will need to be based on a cost-benefit analysis, ensuring operational efficiency without imposing excessive costs. Therefore, technology required for weather system should facilitate market-based approach to decision making.
A good example of an industry that is embracing U-space to improve safety and scalability of drone operations in Europe is the maritime port industry. The ports of Antwerp & Bruges, Rotterdam, and Hamburg engaged with their stakeholders early in the U-space implementation journey to plan collaboratively and to achieve social acceptance of drones flying in urban environment. They created an open environment for their citizens to come and see how drones can benefit the port operations.
In addition to the civil industry, U-space can provide several benefits to military operations including safety, security, and cost-effectiveness. The European Defence Agency has considered military collaboration in several scenarios, including:
- Military as a U-space service consumer,
- Military as both consumer and provider of CIS information,
- National military USSP,
- Pan-European military USSP.
Synergy between civil and defence sectors in drone operations is one of the flagship actions, identified in the EU strategy 2.0. One area where collaboration between the two sectors will be beneficial is in sharing drone test centres across Europe, which is where DG MOVE, the European Defence Agency and EUROCONTROL are collaborating to define a framework.
The Global UTM Association (GUTMA) and PWC have developed a global index ranking countries on UTM ecosystem readiness. They use a methodology that defines maturity parameters for six dimensions of the UTM ecosystem: legislation, governance, strategy, operations, technology, and business & market. The global index can help learn from strengths of countries that a are mature in specific areas. For instance, Europe is strong in legislation but relatively immature in operational implementation when compared with the USA and China.
Members of the stakeholder network voted on key focus areas to target in next meetings. UTM, Communication Navigation Surveillance, Airspace Risk Assessment, and faster implementation of U-space were amongst the most popular topics to focus on. Next meeting is planned to take place on 25 June 2025 in Hamburg and will focus on some of these key topics. EUROCONTROL will also host a global meeting of Integrated CNS from 8-10 April 2025, where one of the tracks will focus on drones and UTM.