Thales receives EASA design verification report for a complete drone system

Thales has received a full Design Verification Report (DVR) by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to operate light uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) in medium risk, SAIL III conditions. This DVR process set in place in April 2021 by EASA has been developed to ensure safe drone operations. The DVR pertains to Thales’ UAS100.

EASA has defined a set of rules to guarantee the safety of drone operations, according to a risk based and proportional approach. The Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) enables defining the applicable Specific Assurance Integrity Level (SAIL) and determines the need for a DVR from the agency.

Thales, in partnership with startup Aeromapper and ONERA, is the first company to be granted such a DVR by EASA for a complete drone system enabling operations in SAIL III. The company says it is a “decisive step to deploy long range drones operations in Europe”.

The DVR is the result of close cooperation with EASA to define and validate the means of compliance to the Light UAS Special Condition. 

The Thales UAS100 is secured by the ScaleFlyt avionics system, integrated in AVEM 300 UAV and its CERBERE safety critical autopilot, provided by Aeromapper. ONERA, the French aerospace lab, conducted the safety analysis through the PHYDIAS project financed by the French Authority DGAC.

Thales is working with EASA on the next stage of certification and a flight test campaign is ongoing, notably through a cooperation agreement with Centaurium UAS, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Centaurium Group, which plans to provide drone services to Swiss authorities and industry players.

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