NATO STANAG 4671 is the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Standardized Agreement 4671 which is the ''UAV SYSTEM

Airworthiness In aviation, airworthiness is the measure of an aircraft's suitability for safe flight. Initial airworthiness is demonstrated by a certificate of airworthiness issued by the civil aviation authority in the state in which the aircraft is register ...

REQUIREMENTS (USAR)''. It is intended to allow military

Unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s (UAVs) to operate in other NATO members

airspace Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...

. Page 1 of edition 1 states:UAV SYSTEM AIRWORTHINESS REQUIREMENTS (USAR) STANAG 4671 Ed.: 1
Use View STANAG to get PDF Edition 1 was promulgated in September 2009. Edition 2 was promulgated in February 2017. Draft edition 3 was being commented on (e.g. by the

aircraft industry An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

) in Sept 2014,RPAS Certification. Where the challenges lie. Military Airworthiness Conference 2014. Lopez
(RPAS = Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) calling attention to slow progress and highlighting concerns. Edition 3 was promulgated in Apr 2019.

Background

The task to initiate this standard resulted from a NATO meeting of the Flight In Non-Segregated Airspace (FINAS) Working Group, September 2004. There were no known international military standards for unmanned

airworthiness In aviation, airworthiness is the measure of an aircraft's suitability for safe flight. Initial airworthiness is demonstrated by a certificate of airworthiness issued by the civil aviation authority in the state in which the aircraft is register ...

. To prepare for the possible acquisition of a NATO-owned unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the level of airworthiness was essential so that industry could meet the alliance requirement. At the March 2005 FINAS meeting, France offered their national standard developed by

Direction Générale de L'armement The Direction générale de l’armement (DGA; English: Directorate General of Armaments), is the French Government Defence procurement and technology agency responsible for project management, development and purchase of weapon systems for the Fr ...

(DGA) to be an initial basis for a NATO standard. The DGA document was titled “UAV System Airworthiness Requirements” a designation that France asked to be applied in NATO. This DGA standard was structured on the basis of

EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitori ...

Certification Specification 23, CS-23 Normal, Utility, Aerobatic and Commuter Aeroplanes. The offer was accepted and the FINAS Chairman established a UAV System Airworthiness Requirements (USAR) Specialist Team (ST) to lead the production of document to establish guidelines for NATO UAV airworthiness. The French agreed to lead the ST. The initial mandate of the ST was to recommend NATO-wide guidelines for UAV airworthiness to allow the cross-border operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in non-segregated airspace.

Scope

It covers

fixed-wing A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct ...

military UAVs from 150 kg to 20,000 kg, that do NOT need "for normal operation the presence of a pilot that directly controls the UAV using a control box (e.g., stick, rudder pedals, throttles, etc.)" It covers all aspects of the UAV system including communication links and control centre. It covers, e.g. ground handling characteristics,

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

, UAV external ' position' lights, Command and control data link loss strategy, Emergency recovery capability, (including deliberate flight termination using explosives).

UAV safety requirements

Sense and avoid

Page 7 states "It is recognized that ‘sense and avoid’ is a key enabling issue for UAV operations. The derivation and definition of ‘sense and avoid’ requirements is primarily an operational issue and hence outside the scope of USAR. However, once these requirements have been clarified, any system designed and installed to achieve these objectives is an item of installed equipment within a UAV System and hence falls under the airworthiness requirements of USAR."

Ratifying countries

Ratifying countries are listed in the front of AEP-4671, Ed. B Ver. 1, found on the

NATO Standardization Office The NATO Standardization Office (NSO) (former NATO Standardization Agency, NSA; French: ''Bureau OTAN de normalisation'') is a NATO agency created in 1951 to handle standardization activities for NATO. The NSA was formed through the merger of t ...

web site. National reservations are also listed.

Compliant UAVs

* Elbit Systems Hermes 900 "StarLiner"

UAVs intended to be Compliant

* SAGEM Patroller * General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper#Certifiable Predator B *

Vestel karayel The Vestel Karayel is a surveillance, reconnaissance and later combat unmanned aerial vehicle system developed by Lentatek. The drone is currently operated by Turkish Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia. Design The Karayel is desi ...

References

{{reflist