The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for the first time approved a point-to-point domestic flight of an unmanned aircraft that utilized the UK’s airways structure when General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) flew its MQ-9B SeaGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) from Lincolnshire, England to Moray, Scotland on Sept. 12, 2021. The GA-ASI-owned RPA flew from Royal Air Force (RAF) Waddington to RAF Lossiemouth and the SeaGuardian flight was controlled by NATS, the UK’s civilian Air Navigation Service Provider.
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SeaGuardian is the maritime version of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian (Picture source: GA-ASI)