States unite as drones increasingly threaten civil aviation

States unite as drones increasingly threaten civil aviation

ICAO leads multilateral response to unauthorized unmanned aircraft systems

With unauthorized unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) increasingly threatening civil aviation, ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar is leading swift and coordinated action by Member States to address the risks.

ICAO's European and North Atlantic Regional Office convened a two day counter-UAS measures workshop this week in response to increasing reports of UAS incursions and related military air activity.

Hosted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Poland in Krakow, the workshop gave Mr. Salazar an opportunity to present the evolving threats, and to urge Member States to rally around ICAO's leadership of the sustained and committed international effort that is required in response.

"Effective counter-UAS approaches require a multi-layered system of equipment, working in concert with sound aviation regulations," Mr. Salazar declared. "Countering the threat posed by UAS to civil aviation also requires coordinated, sustained, and committed international attention."

At the workshop, which concluded yesterday, delegates and stakeholders from across the civil aviation sector shared their expertise and identified various collective approaches to managing safety, security, air navigation, cybersecurity, and privacy risks. This includes strengthening governance, coordination and information-sharing mechanisms.

Delegates recommended several specific measures to achieve this. Interoperability between unmanned traffic management systems and national UAS registries can help authorities distinguish cooperative from non-cooperative drones, and challenges in achieving interoperability among civil and State systems should be addressed. The integration of civil data analytics into State intelligence systems, including data on local trends and incident reports, was also highlighted as a means to anticipate and plan for risks.

In response to these risks and challenges, Mr. Salazar announced the ICAO's development of Integrated Risk Management guidance, which will support States and stakeholders. This guidance, which encompasses the interconnected risks that accompany innovation and continued evolution of the global aviation system, is expected to be issued to States in the coming months.

The expertise shared at Counter-UAS Workshop will furthermore directly inform ICAO's ongoing work to strengthen the global framework, including the discussions at the upcoming Second ICAO Advanced Air Mobility Symposium to be held in Bangkok.

Bilateral meetings

The Secretary General's mission to Poland also featured high-level engagements in Warsaw focused on enhancing regional cooperation. These included talks with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Mr. Radoslaw Sikorski; the Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Dariusz Klimczak; and the President of the CAA, Mr. Julian Rotter.

The Secretary General was accompanied throughout this mission by Mr. Nicolas Rallo, ICAO's European and North Atlantic Regional Director.

9 July 2026