The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has notified a drone certification scheme to ensure minimum safety and quality requirements so as to boost indigenous manufacturing. The drone certification scheme was notified on January 26.

Taking to Twitter, the ministry said: “The drone certification scheme notified on January 26, 2022, under Rule 7 of the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021 will help in simpler, faster and transparent type-certification of drones”.

Combined with the liberalised drone rules, airspace map, the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and the single window DigitalSky Platform, the segment is expected to see a boost in manufacturing.

The MoCA has already approved a PLI scheme for unmanned aircraft systems (drones) and drone components with an allocation of ₹120 crore spread over three financial years.

The certification criteria mention in the drone certification scheme (DCS) will be applicable to indigenous drone manufacturers, assemblers and importers too.

The objective of this certification scheme is to provide safety and security criteria and requirements for drones, evaluate their certification, among others.

A steering committee chaired by a “known professional” by government and industry alike – along with a Quality Control of India secretariat will look into the scheme. The steering committee will include technical and certification committees.

Manufacturers will need to include various test data, results, and so on at the time of submitting an application for certification of a drone. Other details that have to be provided include weight specifications, type of launch and recovery mechanism installed, speed, etc.

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