About Us
ARPAS-UK

ARPAS-UK: the Collective Voice Empowering the UK Drone Industry.

ARPAS-UK is a Non-Profit Trade Association founded in 2013. We serve as the Collective Voice Empowering the UK drone Industry. Our objective is to accelerate the safe and innovative adoption of drones across all industries, unlocking transformative for the economy and wider society.

ARPAS-UK is a membership organisation. Our members cover a broad spectrum of organisations within the drone ecosystem, from individual professionals, start-up businesses, SMEs to larger established organisations, public or private. We make the connection between end-users, industry, operators, agencies, regulators and beyond, and have expanded our reach across the drone ecosystem with 5000 followers on LinkedIn.

ARPAS-UK members form an influential community  of professionals and organisations committed to the highest professional standards and actively shaping the future of the drone industry.

We have established a unique position in the ecosystem and  contribute to  key influential UK industry committees, led by Department for Transport or the CAA among others.

What do we want to achieve?

We want to accelerate the safe and professional adoption of drones across all industries. Smarter, safer, cheaper, greener than traditional ways of working.

Our objective is to collectively achieve the benefits of using drones for the UK economy and wider society. Drones are a professional tool: they provide images, data and aerial intelligence safely. More and more they perform actions such as spraying or transporting goods and people.

  • They help teams perform their dull, dangerous, dirty operations in a safer, smarter, cheaper, efficient way.
  • The quality data and aerial intelligence with multiple sensors, drones are part of the digital transformation.
  • Most drones have electric propulsion, they are part of the CO2-reduction journey.

“Drone” has become a generic word that is well understood by the general public, and that is the term we use most of the time, together with RPAS of course (remotely piloted aircraft system), or UAS (Uncrewed Aircraft System), or advanced aerial systems. Whatever the terminology, our vision of drones encompasses innovative aircrafts and related systems used for Aerial Operations (inspection, mapping, videography, surveillance…) up to and including Air Mobility.  

We have 3 key  priorities:

  • To advocate proportionate regulations and standards for business today, in the “here” and “now”

Regular dialogue with the DfT, CAA ¦ Representation of our community’s interest in key committees and working groups ¦ Response to CAA, DfT formal consultations ¦ Contribution to British Standards Institute BSI group activities.

  •  To drive and inspire market adoption across all industries

Compelling User Cases publications in multiple industries ¦ Industry-specific best practices ¦ Webinars ¦ Trade shows, with drone keynote theatre and speaker opportunities for members. 

  • To encourage innovation for sustainable growth. Education and stakeholders’ engagement as key enablers

Experts’ contribution to key future-facing working groups ¦ Collaborative approach with manned aviation bodies for inclusive airspace ¦ Engagement with Local Authorities for UAS and AAM ¦ And soon STEM and Education schemes from school to colleges and universities.

ARPAS-UK Members form an influential community of professional organisations and individuals with benefits:

  • Demonstrate professionalism and adherence to the highest standards. Adherence to code of conduct. CPDs. And soon the accreditation scheme /Members’ credentials directory (OSC, PDRA01, A2CoC)
  • Gain market visibility. Members’ success stories, webinars, speaker slots at tradeshows, and soon ARPAS-UK revamped members’ directory making end-users’ search for providers easy.
  • Access an immense pool of industry knowledge. Dissemination of regulatory and industry updates, bulletins, webinars…
  • Access the CAA’s engagement mechanisms with the industry. Ability to convey issues to the regulator, and receiving feedback.
  • Access a community of peers for sharing of learning. Special Interest Groups SIGs. Private online platforms like discord.
  • Stay up-to-date and competitive through training and CPD webinars, live and on replay
  • Access business support: standard contracts, business templates
  • Gain Membership rewards: discounts
  • Future-Proof their business in a fast-pace industry: Engage with cutting-edge knowledge and training in emerging areas like BVLOS, and contribute to shaping the future of drone operations.

 

Our philosophy:

ARPAS-UK strives to work in the general public interest. We engage with a broad range of stakeholders with a fair and balanced approach, we foster a collaborative approach across the ecosystem. We advocate respect, inclusiveness and politeness in exchanges, and request professionalism within its membership through compliance with an agreed Code of Conduct.

Who our members are:

Our members cover a broad spectrum of organisations within the drone ecosystem, from professionals, start-up businesses to large corporate and public bodies:

  • End-Users organisations
  • Emergency services, Fire departments, Police forces
  • Drone Operators, large and small, up to turnkey providers
  • CAA-approved Recognized Assessment Entities, other training organisations
  • Individual professional pilots
  • Insurance companies, Consulting and other service companies
  • Hardware manufacturers (including Original Equipment Manufacturers)
  • Operations software, data processing Software (including developers of Uncrewed Traffic Management systems and integrators with ATM)
  • Flight Testing centres
  • Universities, colleges, institutes

The Association is run by the members, for the members with no conflicting commercial interests.

ARPAS-UK is the only non-commercial professional body, solely representing the drone community in the UK. All income is used to further the interests of the membership and to ensure that the industry remains fair, safe and open.

As well as promoting best practice, the Association also encourages a culture of collaboration and information sharing so that members are better informed and better prepared to make the most from market opportunities. Promoting our members and the standards we set, enables end users to easily identify the best and most appropriate operators to hire for their specific needs.

Representation of the RPAS community in Key Government and Industry Committees

Since its inception ARPAS-UK has grown to represent a broad spectrum of members across the industry. Through the hard work of our committee we have developed safety partnerships with the CAA and NATS. We also have working relationships with key stakeholders including BMFA, BALPA, KTN, ACPO, RAeS, and many others, where we actively champion greater co-operation with the membership.

ARPAS-UK – Code of Conduct

The emergence of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) as a resource for a wide variety of public and private applications quite possibly represents one of the most significant advancements to aviation, the scientific community, and public service since the beginning of flight.