Draft Drone Rules, 2021

• The ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) has released the updated draft Drone Rules, 2021 for public consultation, which will soon replace the UAS (unmanned aircraft system) Rules 2021 that was released on 12 March 2021
• Draft rules were built on-premise of trust, self-certification and non-intrusive monitoring.

Key features:

• Approvals for unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, etc. has been abolished
• Number of forms reduced from 25 to 6.
• Fee reduced to nominal levels. No linkage with the size of the drone.
• Safety features like ‘No permission – no take-off’ (NPNT), real-time tracking beacon, geo-fencing etc. to be notified in future. A six-month lead time will be provided for compliance.
• Digital sky platform shall be developed as a business-friendly single-window online system.
• There will be minimal human interface on the digital sky platform and most permissions will be self-generated.

• Interactive airspace map with green, yellow, and red zones will be displayed on the digital sky platform.
• Yellow zone reduced from 45 km to 12 km from the airport perimeter.
• No flight permission required upto 400 feet in green zones and upto 200 feet in the area between 8 and 12 km from the airport perimeter.
• No pilot licence required for micro drones (for non-commercial use), nano drone and for R&D organisations.
• No restriction on drone operations by foreign-owned companies registered in India.
• Import of drones and drone components to be regulated by DGFT.

• No security clearance required before any registration or licence issuance.
• No requirement of certificate of airworthiness, unique identification number, prior permission and remote pilot licence for R&D entities.
• Coverage of drones under Drone Rules, 2021 increased from 300 kg to 500 kg.
• Maximum penalty under Drone Rules, 2021 reduced to INR 1 lakh.
• Drone corridors will be developed for cargo deliveries.
• Drone promotion council to be set up to facilitate a business-friendly regulatory regime.

Drone:

• Drone means an aircraft that can operate autonomously or can be operated remotely without a pilot on board

Classification of drones:

• Classified based upon the maximum all-up weight including payload as under –

1. Nano drone: Less than or equal to 250 gram
2. Micro drone: Greater than 250 gram and less than or equal to 2 kilogram
3. Small drone: Greater than 2 kilogram and less than or equal to 25 kilogram
4. Medium drone: Greater than 25 kilogram and less than or equal to 150 kilogram
5. Large drone: Greater than 150 kilogram.