On August 14, 2025, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Air Navigation Services Agency (BHANSA) announced legislative amendments to formally introduce the EU’s “U-space” drone traffic management system. This move marks Bosnia and Herzegovina as the first country in the Balkan region to fully integrate into the EU’s drone air traffic control network, aiming to address airspace safety crises caused by the surge in drone numbers while promoting cross-border collaboration in logistics, agriculture and other fields through data exchange. This legislation represents not only a technological upgrade but also a crucial step in the EU’s eastward expansion strategy in the low-altitude economy sector.
Airspace Safety Crisis: The Urgency Behind Legislation
The Threat of Uncontrolled Drone Growth
Between December 2024 and July 2025, there were 2,957 drone flights within just 10 kilometers of Sarajevo International Airport, with June 2025 alone recording 540 flights, causing 368 close encounter incidents with manned aircraft. The airspace conflict risk had reached a critical level. Bosnia and Herzegovina previously lacked unified classification standards and cross-border coordination mechanisms, with local regulations unable to cope with the explosive growth of new applications in logistics drones and agricultural monitoring, creating regulatory gaps.
External Threats Accelerating Legislative Process
In May 2025, Turkey delivered KANGAL FPV anti-drone systems to Bosnia and Herzegovina to address the surge in unauthorized drone activities around military facilities. This incident exposed Bosnia and Herzegovina’s weaknesses in airspace defense capabilities, accelerating the push for systematic solutions.
Technical Architecture and Cross-Border Collaboration Mechanisms
EU-Standard Full-Chain Management System
U-space is an automated drone traffic management ecosystem whose core functions include dynamic airspace allocation and mandatory compliance certification. The system divides dedicated airspace for different drone categories including micro-drones (<250g) and light drones (250g-25kg), avoiding conflicts with civil aviation routes through real-time monitoring and automated flight permit issuance. It also requires drones to comply with EU Regulation (EU) 2019/945 CE category labeling (C0-C4 level) and be equipped with remote ID modules to ensure traceability.
EU Drone Operation Categories and Technical Standards Comparison
| Operation Category | Application Scenario | Key Technical Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Open Category | Low-risk civil use | VLOS flight, 120m altitude limit, no-fly zones |
| Specific Category | Logistics, agricultural monitoring | Geo-fencing, real-time link monitoring, automatic termination system |
| Certified Category | Cargo, passenger transport | Airworthiness certification + operator license, similar to civil aviation standards |
Cross-Border Data Exchange: European Airspace Network Integration
The system connects to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) network, enabling flight plan sharing with neighboring countries such as Croatia and Serbia. For example, medical supply transport drones can fly across borders without repeated permit applications. The Bosnia and Herzegovina Civil Aviation Authority formulates EU-compatible regulations, while the Air Navigation Services Agency is responsible for airspace allocation, flight permit issuance, and real-time monitoring, forming a centralized regulatory loop.
Geostrategic Value: The EU’s “Low-Altitude Testing Ground” for Eastern Expansion
Key Springboard for Political Integration
The European Commission recommended opening accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 2024. This legislation is seen as a substantive measure to fulfill obligations of “economic and regulatory convergence,” paving the way for standard unification in subsequent fields such as transportation and energy. As the first non-EU Balkan country to access U-space, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s experience will promote follow-up actions by Montenegro, North Macedonia and other countries, accelerating regional low-altitude economic integration.
Low-Altitude Economic Industrial Chain Restructuring
The cross-border drone network has improved the efficiency of transnational monitoring of agricultural products in the Danube River basin by 40%, while reducing compliance costs for cross-border logistics companies by 30%. EU companies such as Airbus and Germany’s DroneShield will obtain priority equipment supply rights, promoting the eastward movement of the European drone industry chain.
Future Prospects: Challenges and Regional Collaboration Development Paths
Dual Challenges in Technology Implementation
Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to deploy 500 ground monitoring stations within 18 months to achieve full coverage, with the current completion rate less than 20%, urgently requiring EU structural fund support. Neighboring countries such as Serbia still use the Russian Glonass positioning standard, and data protocol differences may cause cross-border mission interruptions.
Three Development Directions for Regional Collaboration
First, integrate the KANGAL FPV anti-drone system provided by Turkey into the U-space platform to build a “regulation + defense” dual-track system. Second, learn from the experience of the US “Countering Untrusted Reconnaissance and Surveillance (COUNTER) Act” to promote legislation in Balkan countries that grants local law enforcement agencies airspace disposal rights. Finally, use the “Sarajevo-Belgrade” route as a pilot to promote commercial operation of cross-border cargo drones, with the goal of reaching a regional low-altitude economy scale of 5 billion euros by 2027.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s U-space legislation represents not only technological adaptation but also a geoeconomic choice. When drones become a new medium for regional integration, the coordination of airspace governance will reshape the connectivity density between the Balkans and Europe—technical standards have now become a sharper blade of integration than treaties.