The Noordwijk based provider of security solutions Bavak Security Group is still waiting for the green light from the Inspectorate Environment and Transport (ILT) to be able to use its drone box with customers. The company reported this during a private demonstration of the Skeyetech system developed in France.

Drone-in-a-box

At the end of last year, Bavak announced that it was the first security company in the Netherlands to start the sale and rental of drone-in-a-box systems for surveillance, inspections and monitoring. To this end, the company entered into a partnership with Azur Drones, a French developer of drone boxes. The advantage of such systems is that the drone is standby 24/7 and no drone pilot is required to perform flights. The drone box can also be integrated into existing video management systems.

In order to be able to use the drone box with customers in the Netherlands, the help of Public Air Services was called in. This agency wrote the risk analysis (SORA) and permit application to use the system in practice, in line with the new European regulations for drones. The permit application was submitted to the ILT, but no approval has still been issued to allow customers to use the system. This much to the disappointment of Bavak director Jasper Weijman: “We have no idea even what the status of our application is.”

This means that for the demonstrations of the system, the rules for Open category A3 are reversed, for drones heavier than 2 kg, so those interested can see the system in operation above arable land next to Bavak’s headquarters in Noordwijk, but of a actual bet cannot be a question yet.

‘Issue of Time’

According to an Azur Drones Representative who had come to the Netherlands especially for the occasion, however, it will be a matter of time until the green light comes. “Coincidentally, we are celebrating today that our drone box system has been operational in Dunkirk harbour for two years. There, the drone flies autonomously a round across the terrain dozens of times a day. So far, that’s going smoothly. Even aggressive birds are not a threat to the drone. In other European countries, too, the system is being embraced. We assume that the Netherlands will follow quickly.”

Weijman expects that many parties will eventually deploy the flying camera. “There is a lot of interest from the market. For the next three months, we will be holding between six and ten demonstration flights a week. The interested parties are managers of vital infrastructure such as oil installations, chemical industry, port areas and defence sites.”