KARI - Korea Aerospace Research institute

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which have led market growth through technological convergence in aerospace and ICT, were traditionally focused on military applications. However, the civilian and commercial UAV market is now rapidly expanding. To accommodate this growth, international efforts are underway to develop relevant laws, systems, and standards, including the designation of UAV test airspaces and the limited issuance of special flight permits.
Since 2014, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has been working to standardize airworthiness requirements for UAVs weighing over 150 kg. Similarly, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced a risk-based certification framework through its UAV-type certification project, which started in 2013. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has been developing airworthiness criteria for UAVs and light UAVs since 2015, based on a maximum takeoff weight of 600 kg. In Korea, the aircraft technical standards were amended in August 2020 to establish procedures for the issuance of special airworthiness certificates for UAVs, electric VTOL aircraft, and optionally piloted vehicles developed through R&D. Safety is assessed using a specialized checklist for experimental classifications.

To align with international standards and recommendations by the ICAO and establish a certification system equivalent to those of advanced countries, Korea launched a certification technology development project for small UAVs in April 2019. The project, running through April 2024, aims to build infrastructure for UAV certification in the civilian sector. To this end, a draft airworthiness compliance standard was developed based on existing aircraft technical certification procedures, incorporating UAV-specific design conditions. Using these criteria, the KC-100 Naraon, a four-seater light aircraft that received type certification in 2013, was converted into a UAV system and subjected to flight testing. Through ground integration and flight testing, the system and its compliance with certification requirements were verified, establishing the foundation for a formal certification system applicable to small civil UAVs in the light aircraft category.