The updated version of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s (CASA) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap, released in December 2024, outlines the significant changes expected in the next 10 to 15 years.
The RPAS and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Strategic Regulatory Roadmap is part of the Emerging Technologies Program. This program focuses on safely and efficiently integrating emerging aviation technologies and systems into Australia’s airspace and civil regulatory framework. The Roadmap explains CASA’s plan for regulating RPAS and AAM.
It sets out our strategy and planning to safely integrate these technologies into Australia’s airspace and future regulatory system alongside traditional aviation.
“A growth in increasingly sophisticated drones, the arrival of advanced air mobility and new ways of designing airspace are no longer challenges on a comfortably distant horizon,” said CASA Director of Aviation Safety Pip Spence.
“The Roadmap outlines Australia’s approach to safely integrating advanced aviation technologies into our airspace and regulatory framework and was updated to reflect developments since it was released in 2022,” she added.
“We’ve already seen some of that change with the impressive growth in size and scope of the commercial RPAS industry, and we see that continuing in the next two years as drones become more efficient, affordable and capable of flying further. We also expect to see more complex RPAS operations in shared airspace using bigger drones with increased automation.”
CASA says it aims to create clear and risk-based rules along with simple, flexible and efficient authorisation pathways for emerging technologies.
First released in 2022, the Roadmap was reviewed in 2024 in consultation with industry. CASA says it will continue to evolve it to keep pace with new technologies and innovations.
