In 2009 ESG procured an un-certified VTOL-UAS to offer an unmanned test helicopter for special applicationsrnof military and civil customers. These applications cover a wide spectrum from R&D programsrnfor the military customer to special services for the civil customer. A prerequisite to perform flights withrnthis unmanned test helicopter on a regular basis – instead of dependent on the availability of exceptionalrnpermissions in restricted airspace – is the existence of a Type Certificate for this aircraft. Currently nornapproved international regulations providing certification requirements for VTOL-UAS exist. ThereforernESG and its industrial partner Swiss UAV together with civil and military certification authorities startedrnthe definition and setup of a certification process for its VTOL-UAS test helicopter.rnThe first part of this paper describes the technical conversion of the commercially available VTOL-UASrnSwiss UAV “NEO S-350 Twin” to ESG’s Unmanned Mission Avionics Test Helicopter (UMAT), itsrnconcept and operational capabilities. The second part presents the definition of the certification roadmaprnfor the NEO S-350 base system and its modification, the UMAT. Because no generally accepted certificationrnspecification is applicable to VTOL-UAS, a detailed explanation of the preparation of a tailored TypernInspection basis is given. The resulting Type Inspection program is described shortly. The paper endsrnwith a description of the simplified qualification process for Experimental Equipment, which – because ofrnthe special setup of the UMAT – does not have to be type certified.
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