In Europe, C-RPAS above 150 kg are controlled at a European level by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) while those under 150 kg remain under national rules. While some Member States authorise flights in normal airspace, the EC has responded to pressure to support the development of a European C-RPAS market by harmonising rules. This started with a three-part consultation on RPAS from 2009 to 2012. The first stage being a hearing on light unmanned aircraft led by the erstwhile DG Energy and Transport, the second a high-level conference organised by the EC with the European Defence Agency and the third a set of five workshops organised by DG Enterprise and Industry (DG ENTR) and DG Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) in 2011–2012. Following these consultations, the insights were brought together into a Working Document (European Commission 2012), and the European RPAS Steering Group (ERSG) was established to plan a series of activities that would lead to the initial integration of RPAS in European airspace by 2016. The ERSG roadmap (ERSG 2013b) was delivered in June 2013, setting out several challenges, issues and potential remedial steps. It is not law, but a unified call for action produced by a range of key stakeholders under the guidance of several Commission services, wherein it remains a key document. The following subsections describe these steps in more detail, highlighting the development of ideas raised early in the consultation process to actions recommended in the roadmap, in particular the strategies for managing public acceptance described in its appendix on social issues (ERSG 2013a).
The Hearing
The hearing (European Commission 2009) gathered 49 European experts from a range of sectors, many of which were government authorities. At the time, interest was not limited to remotely piloted applications but also automated systems, so the term UAS was applied. They identified significant potential for civil applications and anticipated major growth by 2015, particularly in lighter UAS, <150 kg, where costs are lower. The benefits of these UAS were rehearsed in the context of a wide range of economic and effective operations including firefighting, search and rescue, police work, air monitoring, first response, road collision monitoring and ‘persistent, on-demand observation’ allowing sustained surveillance without pausing for crew replacement. They recognised that military applications dominated the UAS sector, and underlined the role of non-military UAS in offsetting the cost of military UAS; “the future military market for unmanned aircraft alone is insufficient to effectively amortise the high costs of development” (European Commission 2009, p. 2).
The cited benefits of UAS development extended to a truly massive, albeit unspecified potential for a wide range of spin-off products and services, comparable with that prompted by space exploration. The main barrier to this development was seen as regulatory. “Once a legal framework exists, a totally new aerial work service supply industry should spout rapidly” (European Commission 2009, p. 10). The barriers were considered surmountable and the hearing report recommended regulations and to expedite the development of the market. For our purposes, it is noteworthy that many of the issues identified during this first hearing had a strong influence in shaping the subsequent consultations and, indeed, the eventual roadmap for supporting a European C-RPAS sector. In particular, it identified three key motives for C-RPAS development that remained throughout the subsequent consultations. These are the functional benefits of C-RPAS themselves, the economic benefits of a European sector, and the benefits to the M-RPAS sector.
The High-Level Conference
The next part of the consultation period was the high-level conference (European Commission 2010). This gathered representatives of EU institutions, member states and military, industry and aviation sectors including the US Federal Aviation Authority. Echoing the previous hearing, the potential value of the UAS market was reiterated and the need to remove constraints upon the market was underlined. They agreed to set up a group—comprised of representatives of Member States, relevant European and international organisations, user groups and public authorities —to respond to these issues. Reinforcing once again that benefits for M-RPAS were a motive and expected consequence of C-RPAS development, it was agreed that the “high level group will integrate the military representatives in order to ensure that the dual nature of UAS operations shall be addressed from the outset” (European Commission 2010, p. 3).
The Five Workshops
In the third phase of the consultation, five workshops were held, focusing on industry and markets, airspace integration, safety, societal dimensions and research and development issues. In each, a range of experts and stakeholders were invited to share perspectives, concerns and suggestions for the sector. The fourth, on societal dimensions, is most relevant here. It was held in November 2011 and had four sessions- issues related to the general framework; responsibility, liability and insurance; privacy and data protection; societal impacts, acceptance and ethics. It is clear that the content of these sessions was highly influential in the corresponding sections of the subsequent roadmap.
Most importantly for our purposes, concerns were raised about C-RPAS’ surveillance capabilities and that citizens may be uncomfortable with the RPAS because of their association with military and police applications. With regards solutions, it was suggested that public acceptance could be secured by informing citizens of the advantages of RPAS, that a transparent process should be adopted and an open debate about acceptable uses promoted, and that ‘privacy by design’ approaches may help ensure a ‘societal compliant use’ of C-RPAS. This represented the first serious consideration of public acceptability of C-RPAS, highlighting concerns about potential opposition, particularly in sensitive applications such as policing and surveillance. While the ideas of transparency and open debates about acceptance uses of RPAS appear promising in the context of RRI, the idea of informing citizens of RPAS’ advantages suggests an imbalanced approach to informing debate. Indeed, there is no strategy for informing citizens of the disadvantages of C-RPAS development, nor for promoting debate on unacceptable uses.
The Working Document
The three stages of this consultation process were brought together in a working document (European Commission 2012). The content of the report closely follows the expert opinions gathered during the consultation. It is at this point that interest was explicitly limited to remotely piloted vehicles and the terminology in reportage changed accordingly from UAS to RPAS. The working document reiterates the potential functional and economic potential of the technology, and the need for coordinated removal of the barriers to market development. The expectations for growth were high and extended well beyond concrete calculations to the prediction that unpredictable markets would emerge. Echoing earlier comparisons with space flight, the reports establishes an analogy in the innovation potential created by the development of the iPad.Footnote 3 The document also referred to the benefits accruing to the military when M-RPAS are used for non-military purposes. These ‘mutualisation’ benefits include financial income generated through the provision of services (operations, training, etc.) and opportunities for military pilots to build experience. Support for the sector was considered urgent because, if delayed, development would shift elsewhere. The USA had announced ambitious plans around the same time and it was felt that Europe should not ‘lag behind’, potentially missing opportunities.
Finally, the working document also considered three societal aspects of RPAS development that were raised during the consultation. The first was the need to state the potential benefits of RPAS, particularly their application in crisis management situations, which provide relatively clear and uncomplicated social benefits. The second concerned issues with responsibility and liability, ensuring operations are adequately monitored and insured. Third, privacy and data protection aspects were considered. The report suggested that no regulatory change would be required at a European level because European law already protects citizens from infringements of privacyFootnote 4 and data protection,Footnote 5 although it supported the introduction of defences against intrusions during the design stages. Finally, the report also expressed concern that public unease around RPAS, resulting from their association with military applications, could cause problems. It suggested that public confidence and support could be raised through transparency, consultation with bodies such as the European Group on Ethics, and clearly defining which applications would be permissible and which would be forbidden. Here we see that the three key motives for, and expected consequences of C-RPAS development remained as economic benefits, functional capabilities, and benefits accruing to the military sector. We also see the concern about public opposition to their use.
The ERSG Roadmap
Following these consultations, the ERSG was set up to produce a roadmap for the integration of RPAS into European airspace. It was delivered in June 2013, and built upon the momentum of the consultations described in the previous sections, as reflected in much of its content and the way the issues are structured (ERSG 2013b). It identified 104 government non-military (state and public sector) and 98 civil (largely commercial) operations, and stated that 250 RPAS based businesses were working on around 400 products. Most of these were specialist SMEs working on products at a pre-market stage. The roadmap called for regulatory support to overcome the barriers presented by fragmented regulations. In doing so, safety is considered paramount and it is essential that airspace integration would not present any degradation of standards or place new demands upon existing practices in the manned aircraft sector. C-RPAS must be considered equivalent to manned aircraft in terms of air-traffic control and safety requirements. All operators must be certified by a RPAS authority, which would ensure that the appropriate standards are met, and all RPAS pilots would be required to obtain valid licences. The roadmap itself is a proposed schedule for the staggered integration of C-RPAS into normal airspace. The four stages in Table 1, below, refer to a gradually increasing complexity, with higher altitudes, longer lines of sight, more densely populated areas, and greater trans-European harmonisation.
Table 1 The integration of C-RPAS into European airspace
The roadmap also describes several activities to accompany these stages of integration. These are organised into three categories, each with its own dedicated annex to the roadmap; regulations, strategic research and societal impacts. The most relevant for our purposes is the third annex on societal issues, which is organised into three areas. The first, third party liability and insurance, anticipates the possibility of incidents and compensation claims. It is necessary to establish the responsibilities and liabilities of various actors involved in operations and to ensure that each is capable of providing compensation, perhaps through a mandatory third party insurance scheme. The second area is security, responding to the threat of deliberate misuse, perhaps through malicious use of rogue C-RPAS or hijacking legitimate C-RPAS through physical or electronic means. The third area is protection of privacy and personal data. Following the insights gathered during the consultation, the roadmap considers these to be adequately protected by existing European legislation, with Member States responsible for their national implementation. As additional safeguards, the roadmap recommend Member States to consider their current implementations of Directives in the context of a developed C-RPAS sector, and that privacy-by-design methods may help ensure the protection of citizens’ rights. Integrating privacy and data protection measures during the design stage, privacy-by-design could ensure that data is deleted by default, rather than requiring operator action. The roadmap then moves on to consider potential public opposition to C-RPAS, stating that it “is important to modify the vision of “killing machines” they [citizens] have right now due to the actually military-specific utilisation and to some catastrophic movies.” (ERSG 2013b, p. 30). This approach implies that the military framing is unjustified, and that it should be corrected. However, the synergies and crossovers between the two sectors were recognised at several points throughout the hearings and consultations described here. In the following section, we highlight how the connection between M-RPAS and C-RPAS has been identified and nurtured by several key actors. We focus upon those involved in the EC’s consultation process described in the previous sections, although we also illustrate the thoroughgoing acceptance of these connections with reference to military strategy documents and communities of users.