Sistemi Dinamici’s SD-150 Hero unmanned air vehicle will undergo testing in the Czech Republic in March to help facilitate the integration of UAVs into European airspace.
Under the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems (JARUS) initiative – an optional cross-national organisation through which national aviation authorities are looking to integrate UAVs into European airspace – Sistemi Dinamici has been contracted to fly the unmanned rotorcraft in a section of unrestricted Czech airspace for JARUS’s Insure project.
“With our system we are trying to create regulations for flight in unrestricted airspace,” Filippo Carraresi, corporate marketing manager at Italian firm IDS, told Flightglobal. The experience and data collected will inform regulators on how UAVs can and should be implemented into unrestricted airspace.
Flightglobal/Beth Stevenson
Sistemi is a joint venture between IDS and AgustaWestland, utilising the former’s aeronautical expertise and the latter’s experience in helicopter design.
The Hero is also being provided to the Italian navy and special forces for testing purposes, and will undergo ship-based analysis under this particular project. Carraresi says the company believes the Italian navy will purchase the system once Italian and European airspace regulations are formalised to allow UAVs into national airspace.
The three-rotor design is some 3.5m (11.5ft) long and has a 5h endurance with a 15kg payload. It has a 50kg (110lb) payload capacity and a 100kg empty weight.
EASA regulation no 216/2008 mandates that the agency must regulate UAVs used for civil applications with an operating mass of 150kg or more, so the Hero’s weight falls below the restrictions of this regulation.
It is therefore an individual nation’s responsibility to regulate aircraft, such as the Hero, that fall below the weight limit.
Flightglobal/Beth Stevenson
There are also civil applications for the Hero, and the type is being offered for pipeline monitoring to oil and gas companies.
“We are now looking to sell this into the market, and sell it as soon as possible,” Carraresi adds. He says potential customers in China, Russia and South Africa – both commercial and military – have shown interest in the system.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
