Page 17 - World Airnews Magazine October Edition 2020

OPINION OPINION

(as I am sure that could be considered an being trialled in the UK to ultimately save
American health and wellness product). lives in the Search and Rescue arena,
Inner city drone deliveries have become instead of the usual clandestine missions
THE BRIGHT LIGHT somewhat of an obsession with a sliding that spark geo-political imbalances. Just
as with Super-Glue, GPS, Aviator Sun-
goal post for the approvals process. It
glasses and radio control, military tech
seems the world’s Aviation Inspectors
share the same sentiments in not wanting is being adapted and absorbed into our
OF DRONES to be the one responsible for placing a lives as every day, off the shelf, products
these days.
signature on a piece of paper granting
a permission in case something goes Another buzzword is, ‘Smart City’,
By Justin Melman horribly wrong. I am not sure how many with VTOL Electric passenger carrying
of you saw the video of a large multirotor drones being the dream many First World
drone spinning out of control in China countries are hoping to achieve. I predict
while dropping candy over a crowd of that the greatest struggle will be human
people but people were injured and it confidence in accepting a concept such as

hink of these words creator, initiator, was not a great advert for our industry. getting into a relatively small space and

Texpert, council, pioneer, pivot, leader, I visited the group of Innovators and having absolutely no control over the air-
influencer, accelerator, innovator… Engineers in Dallas who developed the craft or your fate. Despite the fact that we

A lot of people unconnected to the aviation Uber Eats delivery aircraft back in 2018, put ourselves in the same position when

and drone industry often ask what is the future of very shortly after they had run what using a taxi, commercial airliner or cable

drones? Then again, those of us who are connect- could only have been successful trials due car. I’d probably liken it to being able to
ed to the industry, constantly ask ourselves the to specific mission successes. Their only ‘cold-call’ a stranger using a cell phone, but
same question. In summary, there is never a short setback at that point, however, was leg- having nerves set in and almost paralysing

answer. islation and finding an inspector willing some of the most confident people once Justin Melman

Testament to this was the recent Drone World to place their signature on the approval you instruct them to make a radio call to

Congress trade show in Shenzhen City, China. letter. traffic in the area.

Over 1000 drones made by over 400 Companies A noteworthy observation is the time- The future for drones is like walking near epilepsy. As with anything Aviation,

from over 30 Countries were laid out for those ous integration of military tech creeping through Times Square in New York at only those with the passion for it will
lucky individuals who could travel. A display of into our everyday civilian lives. Elbit now night. Bright enough to amaze you, while endure a little discomfort because you just

that magnitude could only be matched by Las has a civilian version of the Hermes 900 completely overwhelming your senses to can’t stop staring. Q
Vegas trade shows for patriotic topics oozing
freedom and Bald Eagles. Yet, as I have queried
all along, with those sheer numbers, how could
we as South Africans, be so narrow minded to
believe that a single brand of aircraft, let alone UNMANNED
their basic models of aircraft are sufficient
enough to make any significant impact in our
own local industry? We as South Africans may
be dreaming just a little too small at this point
and blaming legislation for it. COUNTER-DRONE TECHNOLOGY
I don’t disagree that in some ways we are being
stifled but we must ultimately consider the Risk
versus Reward. TO THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
What we have been shown recently however,
is the world’s temperament to be able to remove
people from jobs previously thought of as ‘Essen-

tial’ to our modern world, while those thought The threat posed by rogue drones is operators will be examining the most

to be replaced in the next wave of technological being taken extremely seriously by the effective ways to detect, track, identify
advancement came to the forefront with basic or eonardo in the UK has delivered UK ministry of defence and therefore and defeat rogue drones. In the long-
rudimentary skills. Lthe fi rst of four complete baseline the C-UAS study programme, managed run, the research and development pro-
Where most industries started looking for counter-drone systems to the Royal Air by defence equipment and support gramme will inform the requirements

‘analogue’ solutions to downscale in order to Force in support of the next stage of future capability group, is considered for a core RAF counter-drone capability,
survive, a lot of other industries and people viewed its Counter-Unmanned Aerial System highly important to the security of the intended to protect air bases around
drones as the one-stop, world saving solution. The (C-UAS) research and development nati on. the UK.

only reason I can attribute this type of thinking programme. Leonardo is working hard to ensure Elements of Leonardo’s C-UAS

is because the world has never relied so heavily The ORCUS system is now playing a that the programme continues to be equipment were previously operated by

on technology to survive in an Armageddon like key role in a wide-ranging testing and delivered, despite the disruption caused the RAF force protection force in 2018

state and drones are correctly viewed as a leading evaluation campaign which will improve by the global corona virus pandemic. and 2019, following drone sightings at

technological advance. the Air Force’s understanding of how it The modular systems provided by Gatwick and Heathrow airports, allow-

About the smartest thing I’ve read this week can employ technology in response to Leonardo will allow the RAF to eval- ing airport operations to resume.

(bearing in mind these articles are written the threat posed by hostile drones. uate a range of capabilities including Leonardo offers its scalable and mod-

some time before publishing), is the retail giant The RAF will also maintain the ORCUS advanced radar, electro-optic and radio ular C-UAS systems to military and civil

Walmart teaming up with Zipline. Zipline is the system as an upgraded national standby frequency sensors and an electronic customers internationally. The company

type of simple concept operation, made suc- capability, to be rapidly deployed attack countermeasure. In due course, has been contracted for C-UAS equip-
cessful by evolving one-step at a time and really anywhere in the country in support of further systems will be integrated for ment for the Italian army and air force

mastering the intended operation. Walmart, emergency services in the event of a testing and evaluation. and is in discussions with other potential
despite its financial backing, has seen Zipline for drone-based crisis. Throughout, RAF Force Protection customers worldwide. Q

the experienced partner they need to ensure
the population stocked up on their BBQ sauce
World Airnews | October 2020
W orld Airne w s | Oct ober 2020 World Airnews | October 2020
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