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Date Published: 15/12/2021

ARCHIVED - France and Spain coordinate the first cross border drone flight

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The military drone was successfully flown in the same airspace as commercial planes

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - France and Spain coordinate the first cross border drone flight

For the first time ever, Spain and France have coordinated to fly an unmanned drone through the airspace of both countries, where the device safely navigated its way through other commercial planes.

According to ENAIRE, Spain’s government-owned aeronautical service provider, the MQ-9 Reaper drone took off at 12.30pm on December 13 from the military airbase in Cognac, north of Bordeaux, under the control of French air traffic controllers. It crossed the Pyrenees after which its operation was transferred to the control centre in Madrid and was flown towards Navarra and Zaragoza.

The complicated manoeuvring then required ENAIRE and ECAO soldiers in Barcelona to navigate the Reaper through Spanish airspace at about a 7km altitude before it returned to land in France at 4pm local time.

The flight had been prepared for in exhaustive detail for months, taking into account any unexpected situations that could arise en route, but the drone followed its flight plan to a tee and successfully passed all the safety and feasibility studies carried out by the European Defence Agency.

The Reaper received the exact same air traffic control service as a conventional piloted plane, which ensured that it kept a safe distance from all other aircraft flying at the time.

This groundbreaking exercise is an example of the commitment of the authorities in both Spain and France to promote the drone sector and the development of European regulations to further the field of certified remotely piloted aircraft systems.

Images: ENAIRE

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