Parliament: KINAL question on ‘US RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs within ATH FIR / UIR’

The MPs of the Movement for Change, Vassilis Kegeroglou, Michalis Katrinis, Christos Lokias, Eva, call on the Ministers of National Defense, Foreign Affairs, Infrastructure and Transport to inform the Parliament about “UAVs US RQ-4 Global Hawk flights within ATH FIR / UIR”. George Arvanitidis, Konstantinos Skandalidis, Ilhan Ahmet, Apostolos Panas, Andreas Poulas and George Fraggidis, with a question addressed to them.

“While the Russo-Ukrainian crisis is underway, there is a great deal of activity by Western air forces for the purpose of air surveillance of Russian forces. To this end, many different aircraft, manned and unmanned, have been used to recording of Russian movements operating from airports of many western countries in the immediate or indirect vicinity of the theater of operations “.

During the last period of March 2022, within the ATH FIR / UIR and for most of their overflight, over the Greek territory, there is a variety of flights of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAV) US RQ-4 Global Hawk, such as “They come from open sources, coming from Italy, flying over mainland Greece and the northern Aegean, to Bulgaria, Romania, the Black Sea and return, as part of operational missions for the Russian-Ukrainian crisis,” said the deputies. that the RQ-4 Global Hawk is the largest high-altitude unmanned surveillance aircraft providing extensive surveillance and systematic surveillance using high-resolution Radar SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and electro-optical / infrared (EO / IR) sensors with long stay times from target areas and is used as a high-strength platform at high altitudes (over 50,000 ‘, with a roof of 65,000 ‘) covering the range of intelligence gathering capabilities to support forces in global military operations.

“A number of EU Implementing Regulations highlight the dangers posed to Civil Aviation by UAV flights and the need to ensure the coordination of potentially hazardous operations over Member States’ territory, as well as over the high seas, in the event of the competent authority has accepted, under the ICAO Regional Air Navigation Agreement, the responsibility for providing air traffic services within the relevant airspace, coordination should be carried out at an early stage to “, the deputies who sign the question underline and add that the current Regulation – general framework of UAVs flights for Greece, published with the Government Gazette B / 3152 / 30.9.2016 does not include these systems in its scope.

They also note that the overflights took place outside the Airspace Control (FL 530-560) service area within the ATH FIR / UIR, but over runways and Terminal Areas, with increased civil aircraft activity. However, as they emphasize, the daily bulletin of Violations-Violations 22.03.22 (GEETHA) does not mention an incident of violation of National Airspace by the said UAVs.

The three ministers are invited to inform Parliament:

1. What is the framework of the country’s contractual obligations (NATO, Multilateral / Bilateral Agreements) under which the overflight permit was issued?

2. Which government agency / ministry issued it?

3. By what Rules of Air were these flights operated?

4. Has a flight plan been submitted?

5. What safety measures (SAFETY) have been taken for the affected Civil Aviation aircraft?

6. What measures have been taken for the safety (SECURITY) of the underlying military installations on their flight path?

7. Was there the necessary civil-military coordination provided for military flights?

8. Has NOTAM been issued for these activities as has been done for other military overflights during this period?

Source: Capital

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