No Polit, No Problem?

[origional link]

The promise is fantastic: new generations of remote-controlled aircraft could soon be flying in civilian airspace, performing all sorts of useful tasks.The reality is that a lack of radio frequencies to control the planes and serious concerns over their safety are going to keep them grounded for years to come.
Surprisingly, given the commercial hopes it has for civil unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the aviation industry has failed to obtain the radio frequencies it needs to control them - and it will be 2011 before it can even begin to lobby for space on the radio spectrum. What's more, none of the world's aviation authorities will allow civil UAVs to fly in their airspace without a reliable system for avoiding other aircraft - and the industry has not yet even begun developing such a system. Experts say this could take up to seven years.
Dedicated frequencies are handed out at the International Telecommunications Union's World Radiocommunications Conference.But no one in the UAV industry had applied for any new frequencies.If UAVs are to mingle safely with other civilian aircraft, the industry needs to develop a safe, standardised collision avoidance system. This is complicated because aviation regulators demand that if UAVs are to have access to civil airspace, they must be "equivalent" in every way to regular planes.The problem for now is that aviation regulators have yet to define precisely what they mean by "equivalent", so UAV makers are not yet willing to commit themselves to developing collision-avoidance technology."A crewless aircraft on a collision course must behave as if it had a pilot on board"
On the brighter side, last week the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization said its navigation experts would meet in early 2007 to consider regulations for UAVs in civil airspace.
however, it will be meaningless unless the industry can obtain the necessary frequencies to control the planes and feed images and other sensor data back to base, says Bowker. "The lack of robust, secure radio spectrum is a show-stopper."