Thu, Dec 18, 2008
Permits Operation Within Italy's National Airspace
AeroVironment announced Tuesday the General Directorate for
Aircraft Weapon Systems (MoD - Italy) has issued a Military
Aircraft Type-Classification Certificate for the Raven B unmanned
aircraft system, the first such certificate issued in Italy in the
Micro-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle category.
This certificate permits Italian military personnel to fly Raven
in Italy's national airspace.
"Receiving this certification not only validates the Raven's
battle-proven capability and reliability, but also represents an
important step toward the operation of our small UAS in the
national airspace of Italy, as well as in other NATO and European
nations," said Ilker 'Ike' Bayraktar, vice president of
international initiatives. "There are a number of important
non-military applications such as border patrol and asset
monitoring that our small UAS can perform, and we now look forward
to performing these missions with the Italian government's
approval."
AV anticipates other NATO countries will emulate the process
employed by AV and the Italian Ministry of Defense to pursue
similar Raven B certification within their respective countries. In
the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration has
chartered an Aviation Rulemaking Committee to provide
recommendations as to how to safely integrate small UAS into the
National Airspace System.
The Raven is a 4.2-pound, backpackable, hand-launched sensor
platform that provides day and night, real-time video imagery for
"over the hill" and "around the corner" reconnaissance,
surveillance and target acquisition in support of tactical units.
US and allied armed forces use Ravens extensively for missions such
as base security, route reconnaissance, mission planning and force
protection.
In addition to Raven, AV's small UAS include Puma AE and Wasp,
which are also hand-launched and controlled by AV's hand-held
ground control station. AV's UAS logistics operation supports
systems deployed worldwide to ensure a consistently high level of
operational readiness. AV has delivered more than 11,000 small
unmanned aircraft to date. International purchasers of Raven
include Italy, the Netherlands,Denmark, Australia and Spain.
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