The Hindu : National : Certification for UAVs under consideration

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Wednesday, Sep 12, 2007
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Certification for UAVs under consideration

Ravi Sharma

BANGALORE: In a recent decision, the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) has recommended that all future unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) be cleared for airworthiness.

Sources told The Hindu that the recommendation has been made in a report of a team from the centre to the Defence Ministry. “It is currently under consideration.” Almost all the 41 countries currently operating UAVs are debating certification is sues.

In India, design, manufacture, operation, maintenance, safety and liability of UAVs are not assessed by any independent regulatory authority. Neither are potential failures anticipated, deviations in design and manufacture assessed, operational demands simulated and evaluated or designs certified. Such tasks with regard to manned military aircraft are performed by the CEMILAC. (The air worthiness of civilian aircraft is governed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.)

If the CEMILAC’s insistence on airworthiness certification for UAVs is accepted, norms/procedures would have to be laid down. However, questions will first have to be answered on how much of certification — vis-À-vis conventional, piloted aircraft — is required and the procedures to be applied for these unmanned craft. “The crucial question is what constitutes airworthiness for an UAV,” an official said.

The Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Aeronautical Development Establishment, which has designed and developed India’s two most prominent UAVs — the surface/ship-launched high subsonic reusable aerial target system Lakshya and the intelligence-gathering Nishant — have their in-house audits for critical design and flight. The ADE is also developing Lakshya II and a number of newer UAVs, including the Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV Rustam. If CEMILAC’s recommendations are accepted, these new UAVs will have to be first certified before they can take to the skies.

An official said that though the usual questions over passenger/crew safety might not be an issue, questions over the materials used, structural safety and systems to be installed on board might crop up. “If a UAV is to have systems like an anti-collision device, crash recorder and black box (flight data recorder, which logs information such as speed and altitude) installed on it, the weight and cost could go up drastically, making it unviable.”

Another issue is the collateral damage an UAV can cause if it spins out of control and crashes on human settlements.

Though designed primarily for military use, UAVs may perforce have to fly over civilian airspace.

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