Smarter airspace: civil–military integration and digital coordination - Airspace World SESAR Walking Tour reports
European airspace is becoming increasingly dynamic, requiring tighter coordination between civil and military operations and more agile, data-driven airspace management. The European ATM Master Plan sets a clear direction towards dynamic airspace configuration, real-time civil–military collaboration, and the use of dual-use digital technologies to support safe, efficient and flexible operations. These developments were explored during the SESAR Walking Tour at Airspace World 2026, guided by Thierry Closset, European Defence Agency, EDA.
Dynamic airspace coordination for drone-enabled civil and military missions
The integration of drone-enabled civil and military missions requires dynamic airspace coordination to ensure safe and efficient operations in complex environments. This challenge was addressed through the ENSURE project, as presented the AT-One/NLR stand, Jürgen Teutsch presented, who demonstrated how dynamic airspace reconfiguration can support military drone surveillance missions in densely used civil airspace.A Dutch use case was used as an illustrative operational scenario, showing how military surveillance missions around the Dutch coast using drones could be coordinated in proximity to high-density civil traffic environments, such as Schiphol Airport.
The demonstration showed how drone flight-planning systems are connected to realistic air traffic control simulation environments (NARSIM), allowing stakeholders to assess the real operational impact of uncrewed flights as they are visualised directly on the controller working positions. This setup enabled a realistic exploration of how drone operations influence civil traffic flows and how controllers manage evolving airspace conditions in shared environments.
The validation also highlighted the development and refinement of a dynamic airspace reconfiguration (DAR) manager capable of processing multiple airspace change requests and displaying them in layered views, enabling their operational impact on Schiphol traffic to be assessed in real time. In parallel, an enhanced Schiphol approach controller working position demonstrated how traffic flows can be flexibly adapted when drones operate within shared airspace, particularly in scenarios involving unmanned operations over the North Sea.
Civil–military trajectory management in real time
The need for nearly instant coordination between civil air traffic management and military mission planning is increasing as both systems operate in shared and time-sensitive airspace. This was demonstrated at Leonardo stand by Remus Lăcătuș, EUROCONTROL and Simona Pierattelli, Leonardo, who presented the MITRANO project and its validation of mission trajectory management within tactical air traffic flow and capacity management (ATFCM) and ATC processes. The demonstrations showed how civil and military stakeholders can collaboratively manage and dynamically adjust mission trajectories in real time, using interoperable ATM systems such as Leonardo LeadInSky and EUROCONTROL ESCAPE, connected through SWIM-based digital data exchange.
The validation exercises confirmed the feasibility of collaborative decision-making between civil flow managers and military mission planners, supporting the definition and refinement of a reference mission trajectory (RMT) while balancing military operational requirements with civil traffic constraints and network performance needs. The project also demonstrated the secure handling of mission-related data through the improved OAT flight plan (iOAT FPL) concept, ensuring that sensitive military information remains protected while still enabling effective civil-military coordination.
Cross-border operations: secure civil–military interoperability
As ATM becomes increasingly data-driven and interconnected, ensuring secure information exchange across systems and borders is essential to maintain trust, continuity and operational safety. This challenge is at the heart of the work of the ATM-EXCITE project, which will be presented at the UpVision/CSG Aerospace stand by Jakub Karas. The project is defining the initial requirements of an advanced set of system requirements and validated key use cases including ADS-B spoofing detection, selective military data encryption, and mission trajectory management. A key innovation demonstrated was the AnySky Dynamic Data Masking system, which applies a cryptographic “trust layer” over ADS-B broadcasts. This will allow military aircraft to remain visible to authorised ATC users while protecting sensitive mission information from unauthorised access, strengthening both security and operational coordination.
From data to decision: digital aeronautical information for controllers
As ATM operations become more dynamic and time-critical, ensuring that controllers have immediate access to structured, high-quality aeronautical information is essential to support safe and efficient decision-making. Wrapping up the walking tour, Manuel Campaniço and Joaquim Geraldes, NAV Portugal, presented the ACADIA deployment project, which is rolling out SESAR Solutions on digital integrated briefing and the SWIM yellow profile. The demonstration showcased an upgraded electronic content manager integrated into the Lisbon ACC controller working position, capable of ingesting digital NOTAMs and presenting structured, high-quality aeronautical information directly to ai traffic controllers. This enables faster and more informed operational decision-making, ensuring that controllers have real-time digital aeronautical information at their fingertips, improving situational awareness and coordination across complex airspace environments.
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Read about civil-military coordination in the European ATM Master Plan