Unmanned, uninhabited or remotely piloted vehicles are rising high on the agenda of many nations and a conference in the Paris Meridien Hotel last week to review thelatest developments attracted some 500 delegates. Maj Gen Kenneth Israel, the Pentagon's Director of Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, was the keynote speaker at the fifth Unmanned Vehicle Conference. He said UAVs were a "revolutionary military advance" that would determine how wars were fought in the future. Pilotless aircraft could take to the skies over Le Bourget in 1999 if an unmanned vehicles industry group's radical proposal is taken up by the show authorities. The prospect of slow-flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) soaring above Paris under remote control from the ground has taken some French air traffic control officials by surprise. It seems they are more used to dealing with the supersonic jet fighter displays than piston- engined UAVs, according to some industry sources. The Washington DC based Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International has held informal discussions with the show organisers about them sponsoring a day-long workshop on the international potential of the current generations of revolutionary unmanned aircraft. This would include a flying display by a number of UAVs, including the American Predator aircraft, according to Dr Barbara Lindauer, the association's immediate past president. "We have not formally put a proposal to the show organisers, but any aircraft flying would meet all the certification requirements of the French civil aviation authorities," Dr Lindauer told the Shepherd Press Unmanned Vehicle Conference. Some industry sources have said the French air traffic control authorities have been far from positive about the idea. This year however, the French certified their first ever UAV, the Thomson-CSF Vigilant F2000, to fly in controlled airspace, so by 1999 they may be more aware of the requirements for operating UAVs over populated areas and close to manned civil air traffic. The idea of UAV flight demonstrations in 1999 received strong backing from USAF Maj Gen Kenneth Israel, head of the Pentagon's Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, who says it would be 'far sighted' and a 'first' for any air show. "UAVs are the new air vehicles for the new Millennium" says Israel. "It would show UAVs' reliability by flying in airspace now only occupied by manned aircraft." He also says it would provide an opportunity for European industry to participate in major US UAV projects, which will involve spending in the region of $2.4 billion over the next five years.A prime contender to lead the UAV flying display is the General Atomics Predator, which the company is hoping to sell to France through a link up with SEGAM SA.A Predator is on the French company's stand here at Le Bourget, although it will remain firmly on the ground this year.
Source: Flight Daily News
