NextGen And SEASAR Interoperability Is The Goal
The European Commission and the FAA
have officially concluded negotiations for the establishment of a
Memorandum of Cooperation in civil aviation research and
development. The two delegations, led by Hank Krakowski, FAA
Chief Operating Officer, and Daniel Calleja, European Commission's
Director of Air Transport, met in Madrid last week. On Friday, the
negotiating parties initialled the Memorandum and a first technical
Annex promoting interoperability between their respective air
traffic management (ATM) modernisation programs ... SESAR and
NextGen.
The Memorandum will enable the U.S. and the EU to jointly pursue
their common objective to develop and deploy greener and more
efficient air transport systems through a legally binding
cooperation framework, based on commonly agreed reciprocity
principles. Under the Memorandum the two parties will be able to
address through cooperative activities any research and development
issues in civil aviation such as: safety, security, environment,
performance, alternative fuels, aircraft design, Unmanned Aircraft
Systems (UAS), sub-orbital airplanes, satellite-based
communications and related ATM applications, etc.
The simultaneous agreement on the first technical Annex of the
Memorandum dedicated to SESAR-NextGen cooperation constitutes a
major achievement for ensuring effective interoperability of the
two ATM systems. For the EU side, the activities launched under
this Annex will be carried out by the SESAR Joint Undertaking
ensuring an optimal coordination of European ATM modernisation
activities and the direct involvement of EU aviation industry.
In accordance with the agreed
reciprocity principles, the parties undertake to identify the
opportunities available to interested parties to participate in
consultative fora of each party's ATM modernisation program and
opportunities to each other’s industry stakeholders to
contribute to programs of equivalent research and development
activities. Furthermore, through this agreement, the EU and the
U.S. will coordinate their technical efforts in support of global
standardization of ATM systems through the International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO). Interoperability between NextGen and
SEASAR is in fact essential for airspace users - airlines in
particular - as it will enable aircraft to fly in the U.S. and in
the EU airspaces with the same equipment to navigate, communicate
and report its position, avoiding additional costs and weights.
The parties already envision the development in the very near
future additional Annexes, namely in the fields of aviation safety
(for example addressing the impact of volcanic ash clouds) and of
use of alternative fuels in aviation. The rapid implementation of
the Annex will provide a substantial contribution to the effective
deployment of SESAR and consequently to accelerating the
implementation of the Single European Sky.
The Commission will now propose the text for formal adoption
then present it to the Council and the European Parliament for
approval of it signature, in view of its entry into force in early
2011.
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