About: drones Archives

The EU came closer to getting its own laws on civil drone use this week, after a report outlining legislation plans was introduced in Parliament's Transport and Tourism Committee.

SPECIAL REPORT / A possible Greek exit from the eurozone, on-going tension with Russia, and a refugee crisis that is causing widening conflicts within the European Union. Added together they could become today’s Waterloo. Yet for the aviation industry participating in the biennial Paris Air Show this week, there is opportunity in these difficulties.

Italy, France and Germany agreed on Monday to develop a European drone programme for reconnaissance and surveillance, seeking to inject momentum into a proposal first considered in 2013 to reduce reliance on U.S. and Israeli technology.

On Monday (30 March), El?bieta Bie?kowska , Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, launched a new high-level group to advise the EU on how it can support research on a future defence union.

Three categories of civil drone should be created to regulate the unmanned aerial vehicles now used in everything from filming to farming and parcel deliveries, Europe's aviation safety body has proposed.

Germany plans to deploy Bundeswehr troops in a joint Franco-German mission to support an OSCE-brokered ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, government sources said, with Social Democrats calling for a mandate from the Bundestag and the Left Party condemning the move “for historical reasons”. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The downing of the Malaysian Airlines flight in eastern Ukraine has highlighted how unmanned aircraft could help Europe when it comes to surveillance operations in warzones.

Procurement of so-called fighter drones to protect German armed forces remains controversial, but Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has finally disclosed her plans for the aircraft: The German military should receive drones, she said, but these can only be deployed with parliamentary approval. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The idea of building a European drone is expected to make inroads at a two-day summit of EU heads of states and governments, which opens this evening (19 December).

France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Spain have signed an agreement on Tuesday (19 November) to build an unmanned aircraft by 2020 and challenge the dominance of the United States and Israel on a market seen as strategic.

European foreign and defence ministers will discuss how to deploy drones for civilian operations, ranging from disaster prevention to deterring human traffickers on the EU's borders, in a two-day meeting that opens in Brussels today (18 November) .

In proposals aimed at relaunching cooperation on defence production, to be unveiled today (24 July), the EU’s commissioner for the internal market, Michel Barnier, urges Europe to shake off its dependency on Israel and the United States for pilotless military aircraft known as drones.