SAILmark subsidy

Overview

Having readily available SAILmark’ed SAIL II & III UAS available for purchase by commercial operators is a key component to enabling UK SORA and large-scale adoption of SORA in the UK Specific Category.

It provides operators with the confidence that their choice of UAS platform has been robustly independently assessed for the operating environment and conditions proposed in their OA and it significantly simplifies the application process, as well as substantially lowering the overall cost of gaining an OA for industry.

Therefore, to provide operators with increased confidence in UK SORA, the Department for Transport, the CAA and UKRI will subsidise the SAILmark assessment of up to:

• four SAIL II and one SAIL III UAS, to be delivered no later than 30 June 2026.

This will be made possible with up to £100k of DfT funding and up to £50k of UKRI funding.