Great interest in Unmanned Aircraft Systems: UAS – The Joint Booth of the City of Aerospace Bremen Bremerhaven at the AERO Friedrichshafen

The German federal state of Bremen had a booth for the first time at AERO Friedrichshafen (April 19 – 22, 2023). AERO is considered the most important international trade fair for general aviation and will be held for the 29th time this year. Co-exhibitors were the companies b.r.m. IT & Aerospace, OptoPrecision GmbH, Droniq GmbH, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Materials Research (IFAM) and the Oldenburg-Hatten Airfield (EDWH). The exhibitors presented their ideas for the joint project platform “U-Space Reallabor Nord-Westdeutschland und Deutsche Bucht”. The U-Space Reallabor will initially cover a corridor from the mainland across the Jade Bay into the German Bight. It will serve to research and develop systems for the safe coexistence of UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) and manned aircraft under VFR*, IFR** and night VFR conditions.

OptoPrecision’s UAS VT-4 “Rochen”, which looks like a stingray, already took-off at the new UAS test centre at Oldenburg-Hatten airfield. It was developed in a joint project with b.r.m. IT & Aerospace and the Institute of Environmental Physics at the University of Bremen to perform environmental monitoring and can currently be admired at the City of Aerospace booth.

The “City of Aerospace” attracts many interested visitors.

There is a great interest on the topic of UAS. Not surprisingly, the booth of the State of Bremen attracted many visitors including a small delegation on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, consisting of Klaus Wellmann, Managing Director of the trade fair, Mr. Martin Landgraf and his colleagues from the Baden-Württemberg Police, as well as Dr. Judex and Ms. Uhl from the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe – BBK). “We are pleased that our booth attracted so much interest – this shows that current developments in the field of UAS are among the most dynamic and exciting in the aviation industry and are also shaped by our stakeholders in Bremen,” says Andreas Eickhoff, Aviation Officer at the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Europe of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Dr. Henrik Brokmeier and Stefan Schröder from Niedersachsen Aviation and Dr. Fabian Böhm from the Ministry of Economics, Labour, Transport and Digitalization in Lower Saxony have already announced that they will visit the booth on Friday, April 21, 2023.

Within general aviation, the UAS segment is currently one of the widely discussed topics, because the legal framework and possible applications still offer room for co-shaping, but UAS are already an integral part of aviation and are expected to soon achieve the highest traffic volume in the industry. And Bremen is now playing right at the forefront of this field.

* VFR – Visual Flight Rules
** IFR – Instrument Flight Rules

About Bremen Bremerhaven – CITY OF AEROSPACE

The central key industry of aerospace in the German federal state of Bremen, according to the innovation strategy Land Bremen 2030, markets itself under the umbrella brand Bremen Bremerhaven – CITY OF AEROSPACE. Four organizations in the state of Bremen jointly implement the operational goals of the innovation strategy.

The Ministry of Economics, Labour and Europe creates the financial and organizational framework for the design and implementation of the aerospace strategy of the State of Bremen.

AVIASPACE BREMEN e.V. manages the network and participation in innovation projects necessary for the implementation of the operational goals of the innovation strategy of the state of Bremen.

The state’s development bank, Bremer Aufbau-Bank GmbH (BAB) handles the aerospace research program of the state of Bremen. BAB’s Starthaus supports startups and young companies and integrates them into the startup ecosystem of the state of Bremen.

WFB Wirtschaftsförderung Bremen GmbH supports the activities of Bremen Bremerhaven CITY OF AEROSPACE by organizing trade fairs and events and with BremenInvest in the internationalization of the industry.