This morning, the SESAR Governing Board convened for an ad-hoc meeting, with many important topics on the agenda. A brief overview of major points discussed and AME’s key takeaways for the UAS and IAM community:
- The Board approved funding for additional projects from the reserve list of the ER3 and IR2 calls 2025.
We are particularly pleased that two additional U-space related projects will get implemented, one of them coordinated by AME member d-flight. Congratulations!
- The budget left for calls in 2027 is extremely limited.
With this, one of the major EU funding sources for civilian UAS and IAM technologies is drying up until 2028. Funding streams through other European programmes are urgently needed, particularly but not exclusively through Horizon Europe, and with a focus on getting the technologies on the market.
- Preparations for a successor Joint Undertaking for the period 2028-2034 are underway.
The political agenda has EU competitiveness, dual use, digitalisation and automation at its core – supporting the European drone ecosystem hits the sweet spot of where all these priorities meet. The proposed JU needs to allow the different communities – aircraft, ATM, and uncrewed aviation – to continue operating, including through dedicated budgets under the big aviation JU umbrella.
Last but not least, we would like to warmly congratulate Andreas Boschen for being reappointed as Executive Director of the SJU. We look forward to continuing the fruitful and constructive collaboration with Andreas and his team.