Worldwide investments in drones will be around 12,3 billion dollars in 2019. The boom in these small remote-controlled aircraft has led those involved in air traffic to think seriously about safety as well. This year some international airports in England have had to interrupt air traffic more than once due to “unauthorized” drones on the runway. Huge economic losses by airlines with hundreds of thousands of users left on the ground. The dangers are around the corner, counter-terrorism and intelligence often launch the "warning" for drone dangers, especially in large high-interest demonstrations. The fear is that small drones, which can be purchased freely on the internet, can be armed with explosives, chemical agents or incendiary material.
The danger is real, so much so that the Italian army in Sabaudia practices to fight this threat with the Anti-aircraft artillery command, the Comaca.
But whoever has the task of national air defense is the Air Force that to face these new and future challenges has a team of highly specialized people both in the development of the capacity and in the training of the operators of these drones, and is at the forefront of the development and use of defense systems against such assets.
The Center of Excellence for Aeronautical Piloted Aircraft is located at Amendola's 32 ° Stormo.
The Center of Excellence invests an important part of its activities also in the basic training for operators preparatory to the achievement of qualifications related to the driving of APR systems or to the use of their sensors for the personnel destined to be employed in the sector.
These courses are available not only to the Armed Forces, but also to all the government agencies concerned for the performance of reconnaissance and territorial control activities, environmental monitoring, search and rescue in the event of public disasters, public order and judicial police investigations .
In fact the recent proliferation of APR assets of the Mini / Micro class (APRM), with particular reference both to the Armed Forces for operational and support purposes, both to the Police Forces for public order purposes and to the various governmental bodies by virtue of the countless dual uses of APR systems for non-military purposes, has consistently increased the demand for output training of the Center, above all for the high quality that is recognized.
With the 21 ° course for 30 APRM operators that began last 29 January, 470 is the number of interforce and inter-departmental extraction visitors trained at the Center, including representatives of the Army, Navy, Aeronautics, Arma dei Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza, Fire Brigade, Harbor Master's Office, Italian Red Cross and in the past also of the Forest Corps.
In an article, Business and Finance draws a careful examination of the world of drones
The drones are subdivided into APR - Aircraft with Remote Piloting - which is a remotely piloted aerial vehicle without persons on board, not used for recreational and sports purposes, and the SAPR (Remote Piloting Aircraft System) which differs because it also includes the related components for remote pilot control.
And then there is the model aircraft, not equipped with equipment that allows an autonomous flight and used for recreational or sporting purposes. Even if you buy a drone to have fun you still have to respect the rules. ENAC (National Agency for Civil Aviation) establishes, for example, that it must be used in such a way as not to cause damage to people or property on the ground, that it is flown only during the day, in unpopulated areas, sufficiently far from buildings, infrastructures and installations, up to a maximum height of 70 meters and within a maximum radius of 200 meters. It should also be kept in mind that the drone used for recreational purposes must be under 25 kg. The situation is different for UAV and SAPR drones which must still be “registered” and insured and, if they weigh over 300 grams, a license is also required.
In professional use it will then be necessary to submit to ENAC, depending on the case, a declaration or obtain an authorization. Entering into the merits of the products, among the cheapest although not entirely a "toy", we find the Hubsan X4 Desire quadcopter (on average 70 euros on Amazon) with 720p camera, a speed of 10 m / sec and an autonomy of about 10 minutes. Let's go up a bit with the Parrot Mambo FPV (about 110 euros on Amazon), a minidrone that can be piloted with a first-person view, thanks to the FPV camera (First Person View) and the Parrot Cockpitglasses 2. Always in vogue the Parrots Bebop 2 and Bebop 2 FPV with an autonomy of 25 minutes, to which is added the Parrot Bebop 2 Power - Pack FPV (on offer at 578 euros on Amazon) with two batteries for about an hour of flight. Among the minidrones the DJI Spark (499 euros) also stands out: camera with F2,6 wide-angle lens equivalent to a 25mm, 1080p video and 12MP photos, support for gesture commands to shoot seine, 16 minutes autonomy, FPV with DJI Goggles and options intelligent flight control. Also noteworthy is the Yunec Typhoon H exacopter (from 850 euros on Amazon) with a flight duration of up to 25 minutes and shooting in 4K UHD with CG03 + 360 ° panoramic camera. The "foldable" DJI Mavic Air (849 euros) is also on the same line, which houses a 3-axis gimbal whose shock absorbers help to create more stable footage, 4K 30 fps video and slow motion, 12 MP photos, 8 GB of memory and a microSD slot. We are approaching the professional with the Parrot Anafl (€ 699,90), equipped with a 4K HDR 21MP camera with a special gimbal that can be tilted 180 ° and zoom without quality loss up to 2.8X. Resistant to extreme weather conditions, it has a flight range of 25 minutes. We are already in the professional (aerial photography) with the DJI Mavic 2 Pro (1.499 euros) with Hasselblad L1D-20C camera, 1 ″ and 20 MP CMOS sensor, 3-axis Gimbal. It supports a 10-bit DIog-M color profile that offers higher dynamic range for greater flexibility in post-production. Also noteworthy is the DJI Phantom series, including the Phantom 4 Pro + V2.0 (1.999 euros): 20 MP sensor, remote control with integrated display. Finally, there is also Matternet's 11 M2 quadcopter, which can carry loads of up to around 2,2kg over distances of up to 20km. It will be used by UPS to deliver medical samples to WakeMed's main hospital and campus in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Matternet M2 The quadricopter that can carry loads up to around 2,2 kg over distances up to 20 km. It will be used by UPS to deliver medical samples to the main hospital and WakeMed campus in Raìeigh, North Carolina. It is one of the first cases of drones authorized by the US Federal Aviation Authority to fly for commercial activities.