Bridging the Skies: analyzing Unmanned Traffic Management from a defense-centric perspective

The proliferation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), presents a novel challenge for the aviation industry, particularly for air traffic control, which ensures safe, orderly, and expeditious flow within its area of responsibility. In order to safeguard conventional traffic, it is imperative to establish a new operational environment that calculate with UAS flights, highlighting the critical nature of managing the coexistence of manned and unmanned aircraft. This led to the development of the Unmanned Traffic Management framework, typically addressing relatively small and mainly civilian drone’s operations at lower altitudes. However, it is crucial to define the scope and challenges of such a system from a defense-centric perspective, therefore this study outlines the necessary services and functions related to the operation of UTM systems. Examining the military’s multifaceted role of encompassing service provision, airspace utilization, airport operations, regulatory oversight, and cybersecurity aspects enables to unleash the full-scale of potential benefits of Unmanned Traffic Management. This publication argues that by leveraging advanced technological and regulatory frameworks, the defense-centric perspective can lead to the safe, secure, and efficient integration of drones into the national airspace structure. Actionable insights and strategic recommendations, fostering a resilient and collaborative UTM ecosystem is also introduced in this paper.