Over three hundred delegates gathered here for a two day Shephard conference “Tactical to strategic UAV technology: network-enabled capability and the warfighter” Speakers gathered to discuss and examine mainly European issues, with a theme emphasis on the increasingly important area of network interoperability – whether between coalition forces, or between underlying alliance structures. The key challenges have been proven, said Col Nigel Jefferson of the UK Army’s HQ Capabilities Director, HQ RA,.

Wulf Hausen – Project Director for UAVs, Federal office of Defense Technology and Procurement in Germany sees five ‘main theme’ key challenges facing developers of UAS doctrine - FINAS (flight in non-segregated airspace) , frequency spectrum availability, data management, network enabled capability and inter-operability between interested users. He told the audience here today in a keynote address that while all are paramount, all are also capable of being solved by the end of the current decade. Some solutions suggest themselves already – data processing on-board vehicles instead of having to use large amounts of frequency, for example. Hausen says cultural and operational differences across nations in the European context are making these issues particularly difficult. However, ‘they can be solved because these things are understood on a shared basis.’

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