Airbus Group has visited the facilities of the Flight Test Center ATLAS for testing systems and unmanned aircraft (UAS/RPAS), in order to analyze the possibilities of collaboration in this area between the aeronautical giant and the Andalusian Center. The aim of the visit is to present to the executives of the group these pioneers aerospace technological and scientific infrastructure, which are the only in Europe that have been designed and constructed specifically for the research and development of experimental flights with systems and unmanned aircraft of type light and tactical.
The delegation of Airbus has been composed by the senior vice president and Head of Operations of Airbus Defense and Space and member of the executive committee and director of Engineering of Military Aircraft, Miguel Ángel Morell; the Tablada Site Manager (Seville) of Airbus Defense and Space, Jesús García Argüelles; and the Head of Institutional Relationships and Political Affairs of the Airbus Group in Andalusia, Rocío Caparrós.
During the visit, Airbus executives have been accompanied by the Minister of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Regional Government of Andalusia, and other authorities of the Andalusian Government and the Provincial Council of Jaen; the technical director of FADA-CATEC, Alfonso Picardo; and the director of the ATLAS Center, Anastasio Sanchez.
In the meeting, Airbus and the managers of the center have maintained a working meeting in which they have been submitted the extensive capabilities and technical services that ATLAS offers to the international aeronautical community interested in the development of technologies related to the UAS, one of the sub-sectors that have greater projection at the global level in the aerospace industry.
The possibilities of collaboration between Airbus Defense and Space, the division of business systems and unmanned aircraft from Airbus, and the ATLAS center were also analyzed primarily aimed at providing the use of the facilities for experimentation and testing with related technologies with UAS.
They also were witness to a demonstration flight of an unmanned aircraft, coordinated by pilots and technicians of the Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (CATEC), and learn more about some of the infrastructure of ATLAS, as its main building and control tower, from which the follow-up of the operations with the unmanned aircraft is overseen. In addition, they have visited the hangars, where other models of UAS belonging to CATEC are exposed, and they have known its features and working.
Activity and first flights with UAS
The ATLAS center is fully operational since last March, when it was inaugurated by the President of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Susana Díaz. Also, it has already been developing and testing flights with unmanned aircraft in their facilities through various companies of the aerospace sector, as well as in scientific projects and research in the European participating FADA-CATEC. They are developing new technologies with UAS for its implementation and use in the civil and commercial field The managers of the Center are working to close new agreements with other companies and organizations of the sector that have shown particular interest in using ATLAS facilities for tests and flights with UAS.
ATLAS hosted last August the first flight beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) for the first time in Spain with this type of aircraft since the entry into force of the new regulation on the use of aerial systems and unmanned aircrafts (UAS / RPAS), approved by the Spanish Ministry of Development.