On 26 February, the Netherlands became the 14th Member State to support the ARTES 10 Iris Programme for Air Traffic Management. Other Participating States are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
ESA had already been working with the Dutch aerospace laboratory NLR for several years due to its expertise on aircraft avionics and flight campaigns.
Iris, element 10 of the ARTES Programme, aims to supply a validated satellite-based communication solution for the European Air Traffic Management System. It is implemented in close collaboration with the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) Programme launched in 2006 by EUROCONTROL and the European community.
The Iris Programme covers both the development of the Iris solution, a high-performance datalink to support aviation’s 4-dimensional (4D) air traffic management of aircraft post 2020, and the Iris Precursor to provide a solution for the shorter-term.
The Netherlands has opted to participate in the Iris Programme for the development of the long-term solution. Dutch companies will now have the opportunity to participate in activities related to the design of the communication system and its verification.
For more information, see the contact links located in the column to the right.
