ULTRA · Unmanned Aerial Systems in European Airspace

To unlock the true potential of the UAS market, stakeholders need to break a series of entangled challenges. Today, in the absence of UAS regulations, the development of solutions is risky and expensive for industry, and essentially aimed at military applications. As a result, the UAS market is small and its impact on European industry is limited. Also, there is no improvement in UAS social acceptance, including a lack of political willingness to develop regulations. While this vicious circle is what is preventing the development of a civil UAS market alongside the existing military UAS market, it is also a great opportunity for Europe to take leadership and to secure an advantageous position in what is predicted by many UAS market studies to be a large and sustainable market with spin-offs into manned aviation, space and other high-tech markets.The overall objective of ULTRA is to develop a civil UAS Master Plan that will break this vicious circle in order to:1.Unlock the true potential of the UAS market by addressing civil applications that are not systematically addressed today