The drone associations AME, DAE, GUTMA, JEDA, and UAV DACH are publishing today a joint white paper setting out a phased strategy to enable ‘specific’ category Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) UAS operations at scale within the EASA framework, with a particular focus on very low-level (VLL) airspace and up to 1,000 ft above the ground level (AGL).
This strategy addresses key airspace-related blockers, such as the lack of electronic conspicuity (EC) in manned aviation or the limitations of the current SERA framework, for which multiple, complementary and mutually reinforcing pathways are proposed.
Structured across three time horizons—H1 2026, H2 2027, and H1 2029—, the White Paper outlines practical steps to incrementally unlock scalable BVLOS operations. Crucially, it calls for the initiation and progression of targeted regulatory activities under EASA rulemaking tasks (RMT), including, but not limited to, RMT.0476 on the Regular Update of the Standardised European Rules of the Air (SERA), RMT.0729 on the Regular Update of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 and of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945, and RMT.0730 on the Regular Update of the AMC & GM to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947, to adapt relevant regulations guidance, and means of compliance in support of BVLOS operations at scale and the entire European UAS ecosystem.
The strategy urges the European Commission, EASA, and Member States to accelerate the deployment of enabling technologies and unlocking services while at the same time leveraging existing airspace solutions and regulatory mechanisms at the European and national levels.