Consultants Blast UK drone IDs (RID) enterprise justification – sUAS Information – The Enterprise of Drones

One other smashed it out of the park FOIA by Ian Hudson (https://x.com/UAVHive), this time exposing the backward pondering and cash already spent on RID within the UK, that is wasteful expenditure. Let’s hope the brand new UK labour Authorities picks up on this and stops it in its tracks.

This assertion irked me, the UK has already fallen nicely behind different international locations RID is just not a magic bullet.

I’ve reached out for feedback from educated people and can add their ideas to this.

By doing nothing, the UK will fail to fulfill the regulatory requirement to implement RID inside the UK. There will probably be impacts on security, safety, and development of the drone sector inside the UK.

RID is the best snake oil to this point, I’ve seen many concepts come and go however this one is seeming to be profitable all over the world. It should do nothing for security and safety, dangerous actors gained’t fly with RID. However it’s going to put up extra obstacles to entry for younger mannequin plane flyers and proceed the decline of aviation engineering abilities in younger people.

I get too offended fascinated by this, Ian has emailed me his ideas, as ever he has finished a marvellous job of shining a light-weight on issues finished in large companies curiosity.

That is an American thought purchased in by American distributors (Amazon, Wing) who shouldn’t have any seat at any UK regulators desk.

I’m ranting, over to Ian –

Whereas this doc is from September 2022, and a few particulars could also be outdated, it raises questions in regards to the CAA and House Workplace’s plans for the Distant Identification (RID) scheme.

• Publicly, each companies have denied any intention to monetize RID. Nonetheless, this doc suggests in any other case from the very starting.
• The redacted directorate and division answerable for this doc are notably fascinating, as they might present clues about who was concerned in these potential monetization plans.

I discover it very fascinating the directorate and division have been redacted:

They’ve used part 23, safety our bodies, I’ve gone again to argue that.

This doc appears to disregard present applied sciences like AeroScope and the nationwide drone array. This omission raises issues in regards to the doc’s accuracy in assessing the true capabilities of the Distant Identification (RID) scheme.

• The doc presents RID as a brand new answer, however present techniques already present among the functionalities it claims.
• Since most drones within the UK are made by DJI, which could have already got identification options, the urgency and justification for RID as introduced right here could also be overstated.

There are an estimated 350,000 drones in use within the UK. Drone operators are required to register with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), however there is no such thing as a means for an exterior social gathering (similar to regulation enforcement) to learn this registration remotely.

That is an absolute lie:

In follow, drones successfully fly anonymously

This line suggests the information is being shared past regulation enforcement:

RID would additionally present data and knowledge for the CAA, Police, DfT and different authorities to hold out their jobs extra successfully.

£1.8 for six months work from consultancies?  That’s a pleasant slice of taxpayers money…

Feels like bullshit to me…

There are not any different suppliers in a position to present this service

About the one true factor within the doc is that this, which everyone knows is the actual motive it’s being pushed for:

Right here is the beginning of the doc, all the factor under

This Enterprise Case is for £600k to contribute to the programme of labor to implement Distant ID (RID) for drones within the UK, to fulfill the regulatory requirement by 1 January 2026.

There are an estimated 350,000 drones in use within the UK. Drone operators are required to register with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), however there is no such thing as a means for an exterior social gathering (similar to regulation enforcement) to learn this registration remotely. In follow, drones successfully fly anonymously. Some use is careless, thoughtless or legal, with 13,000 incidents reported to-date, together with smuggling, illicit images, harassment, and infringement of delicate websites.

RID will take away this anonymity, and thus present important safety advantages, permitting police to determine malicious and/or incompetent operators, resulting in reeducation, fines, or convictions. RID is subsequently analogous to quantity plates and Automated Quantity Plate Recognition (ANPR) for highway autos. Crucially RID permits the police to determine and handle illegal behaviour on the earliest alternative. RID would additionally present data and knowledge for the CAA, Police, DfT and different authorities to hold out their
jobs extra successfully.

CAA estimate the associated fee to completely implement RID is c. £10-15m over 18-24 months. The design section will price £1.8m to finish, which can embody technical, industrial and regulatory/legislative design.

£600k from the House Workplace will probably be paired with £1.2m from DfT, making up the £1.8m required to run the design section. This section consists of:

• Full design of technical parts, requirements and interfaces (e.g. RID knowledge, Drone
  and Mannequin Plane Registration and Training Service’ (DMARES) improvement).
• Full design of latest regulation and laws to provide CAA powers to function RID, and place obligations on producers and customers
• Draft wording of regulation and
  laws
• Preliminary scoping on find out how to purchase
  related parts, making certain
  worth for cash
• Engagement with suppliers – Set up a brand new work programme,
  together with reporting, governance,
  RAID administration and planning.
• Draft and ship the Define
  Enterprise Case and Full Enterprise
  Case, in keeping with HMT Inexperienced Ebook
  ideas
• Key design selections finalised

Right here is the doc in full –