Uncrewed Aerial Systems Course for Operators
Date: (03-10-2025)
The Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) Course for operators was held at the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence from 30 September to 3 October 2025. It brought together 23 students from diverse backgrounds in a dynamic in-person setting. All lectures and live demonstrations were provided by guest instructors from the Engineer Research and Development Centre of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The course was designed to demonstrate effective UAS operations in various scenarios, including reconnaissance and emergency response. Participants were shown how to collect, process, and analyse data using specialised software.
On the second day of the course, after providing instructions on flight risk assessment, Mrs Jennifer Laird and Mr Michael Baker conducted a live demonstration of WingtraOne’s data collection mission at the firing range “Slivnitsa”. They also demonstrated the optical and thermal capabilities of the SkyDio X10D quadcopter.
On the third day, Dr Adam Wells guided participants through the practical use of ArcGIS software. Students learned image analysis, digital surface model manipulation, viewshed, and drainage analysis.
By the end of the course, after all lectures, demonstrations, and many answered questions, participants had acquired extensive knowledge of how to apply UAS in real-world scenarios such as infrastructure monitoring and disaster management.
News
CMDR COE FEBRUARY Forthcoming events- In 3-7 of February experts from the CMDR COE team will take part in the Final Planning Conference of the SABER GUARDIAN ′14 Exercise, organized by the US EUCOM and BGR LANDFORCE.
The purpose of the exercise is to train and educate civilian and military participants in planning and conducting an UN mandated Chapter VII Peace Operation/Crisis Response Operation, based on a Comprehensive Approach, and focusing on co-operation and co-ordination within an unstable environment, involving all stakeholders. The principal exercise focus is the civilian-military cooperation and coordination. The scenario supports exercising a wide range of peace operations functions (e.g. rule of law, humanitarian, etc.). The CMDR COE will contribute to achieving the exercise objectives by providing subject matter expert support in the CMDR area and by organizing distributed point for White cell.
- In 11-13 February 2014 the Civil-Military Interaction: Disaster Preparedness and Response Workshop will take place in Sofia. The workshop is sponsored by the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria and the CMDR COE. The workshop comprises lectures dedicated to NATO and EU Crisis Management, role of military in civil security, risk management, as well as discussions and tabletop exercise.
Internal CMDR COE Seminar on the Crisis in SyriaThe CMDR COE organised an internal seminar which was held on 20.12.2013. The main focus of the seminar was the crisis in Syria. The CMDR COE experts discussed issued related to the chronology of the crisis; the increased influx of refugees to neighbouring countries and Bulgaria; the positions of NATO, the UN and EU; the involvement of international humanitarian organisations etc.
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Visualizing Implications of Climate Change on Military Activities and Relationships was conductedOn 11-12 December 2013, the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) co-hosted together with US European Command (USEUCOM) and the US embassy in Bulgaria the workshop Visualizing Implications of Climate Change on Military Activities and Relationships. The opening remarks were given by the Deputy Minister of Defence of Bulgaria, Mr. Ivan Ivanov, who welcomed the participants and underlined the importance of the topics that the workshop focused on.
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