Preliminary Notice of AAUS AGM 2025

• Advance Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems Incorporated will be held on Thursday 20th November 2025 in Sydney (Venue and time to be confirmed).
• Formal Notice of the AGM will be sent to all members at least 21 clear days prior to the AGM.
• This early advice is being provided so members can consider whether they wish to stand for election to the Board of Directors and also whether they wish to raise any matters for discussion and determination at the AGM.

Election of Directors (General Board)

In accordance with the Rules of the Association, the AAUS Board consists of an Executive Committee (President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary) and up to 11 General Board members. A total of five Board members elected at the 2022 AGM will step down from the Board at the forthcoming AGM but are eligible to offer themselves for re-election.  Members of AAUS are welcome to nominate for the AAUS Board.

Nominees for election to the Board must be financial Individual members of the Association or the nominees of corporate members. (Newsletter members are not eligible).  A nomination form is required, signed by a Nominator (who must be a financial member of AAUS) and by the Nominee. This must be submitted to the Secretary (secretary@aaus.org.au) by 5pm AEDT on Friday 17th October 2025. It must be accompanied by a completed Qualification of Directors form, setting out information on the Nominee’s applicable experience and availability to undertake Board roles. This form will be circulated to members with the AGM notice to allow members to review the qualifications of candidates. 

Nomination Forms

Copies of the Nomination Form and the Qualification of Directors Form are attached.

AAUS Board Nomination Form

AAUS Board Qualifications Questionnaire Form

Motions for the AGM

Under the Rules of Association, Motions to be put to the AGM need to be received by the Executive Director at least 21 clear days prior to the AGM (by 5pm AEDT on Friday 17th October 2025). The Motions must be in writing, proposed and seconded by financial members of AAUS.

As the purpose of the AGM is to consider and approve the past operations of the Association and its future operations and governance, it is normal that Motions to be put to the AGM are relevant to those matters.

By order of the Board,

Paul Hardy (AAUS Company Secretary)
Date: 15/09/2025

This month CASA released more detailed data on RPAS regulatory services.  While AAUS applauds this initiative, the published delivery timeframes and targets confirm a trend that CASA are not coping with regulatory services for the RPAS sector.   The timeframes, in some cases extending to over one year, are simply not acceptable for a safe and viable industry.

In response, AAUS has written to key government stakeholders including Minister Catherine King seeking urgent reforms to address this issue.

You can read the letter here

AAUS has continued to work hard in developing an industry-led accreditation program aimed at drone operators. We are now seeking Expressions of Interest for the Accreditation Oversight Committee and Accreditation Learning Partners.

For more information, read here

2025 AAUS Industry Award Winners were announced at the AAUS Gala Dinner held in Canberra on Tuesday June 17, 2025.

The Awards recognise individuals and organisations that have made a significant contribution to the Australian uncrewed systems industry.  

AAUS congratulates for following winners for their outstanding achievements.

Leadership Award

Western Australia Police - Air Wing (RPAS Operations)

Innovation - Technology Award

Trendspek

Innovation - Operations Award

Toll Uncrewed Systems

Education & Safety Award

Flight Safety Foundation (BARS Program)

Social Impact Award

Australian Defence Drone Racing Associations

Diversity & Inclusion Award

Global Drone Solutions

NextGen Achievement Award

Ben Mortensen & Rudi Browning (Profly Cinema)

To learn more about this year's winners, click here.

AAUS is proud to be hosting its 7th Industry Awards night to recognise individuals and organisations that have made a significant contribution to the Australian uncrewed systems industry.  After an extensive judging period, we are excited to announce this year's finalists.

Finalists for 2025 are:

Leadership Award

The Leadership Award will recognise individuals or organisations that lead the way with advocacy work that strives to improve the commercial and / or technological viability of the uncrewed system industry.

• James Bassam (Australian UAV Service)
• Ed Boxall (Sensorem)
• Wayne Condon (Toll Uncrewed Systems)
• Derek Feebrey (Trendspek)
• John Fleming (FPV Australia)
• Mahmood Hussein (Global Drone Solutions)
• Fiona Lake (Rural Drone Academy)
• Clem Newton-Brown (Skyportz)
• Dr Ruth Patterson (Elysium EPL)
• Ben Westgarth (Department 13)
• Western Australia Police - Air Wing (RPAS Operations)

Innovation - Technology Award

The Innovation – Technology award will go to the organisation or individual that has developed drone technologies including drone systems or sub-systems. (eg. drone, payloads, avionics, powerplants, data exploitation systems) that has had a significant positive impact for end users or the broader uncrewed systems industry.

• Drone-Hand
• Freespace Operations
• Grabba Technologies
• RocketDNA
• Sensorem
• SPARC AI
• Stratoship
• Toll Uncrewed Systems
• Trendspek
• V-TOL Aerospace

Innovation - Operations Award

The Innovation – Operations award will go to the organisation or individual that has developed novel and innovative operational capabilities to benefit customers. (eg. airspace integration, swarming, novel applications).

• Endeavour Energy
• Toll Uncrewed Systems
• Wash Drones
• Yarra Drones

Education & Safety Award

The Education & Safety Award will recognise individuals or organisations who demonstrate leadership in educating the unmanned systems industry with particular emphasis of developing a safety-focussed culture. 

• Australian UAV Service
• Flight Safety Foundation (BARS Program)
• FPV Australia
• Global Drone Solutions
• Toll Uncrewed Systems

Social Impact Award

The Social Impact Award will recognise individuals or organisations who demonstrate a mission, capability or technology that has a positive impact on society or has focused on the betterment of the uncrewed industry as a whole.

• Australian Defence Drone Racing Associations
• Australian UAV Service
• Canberra Multirotor Racing Club
• Defence Intern Program
• Global Drone Solutions
• Toll Uncrewed Systems

Diversity & Inclusion Award

The Diversity & Inclusion Award will recognise individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to supporting deversity and fostering inclusion within the uncrewed systems industry.

• Australian UAV Service
• Luke Chaplain (SkyKelpie)
• Defence Intern Program
• Alana Flack (Trendspek)
• Global Drone Solutions
• Fiona Lake (Rural Drone Academy)

NextGen Achievement Award

The NextGen Achievement Award will recognise young individuals that demonstrate elite capability and leadership in their field within the uncrewed systems sector.

• Luke Chaplain (SkyKelpie)
• Doug Conn (Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group)
• Marc Cook-Russell (Department 13)
• Andrew Davies (Taz Drone Solutions)
• Benjamin Harvey (Toll Uncrewed Systems)
• Oliver Heys (Australian UAV Service)
• Ben Mortensen & Rudi Browning (Profly Cinema)
• Dr Ashim Panta (Quickstep Holdings)
• Nelson White (RAAF)

Award Winners will be announced that the AAUS Gala DInner (held in conjunction with the RPAS in Australian Skies conference 2025) in Canberra on Tuesday June 17, 2025.

In this webinar, CASA and AAUS provide an update on the RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap.

In this recording, presenters outline the latest updates on the Roadmap’s progress, key milestones, and upcoming initiatives.

Watch Recorded Presentation

Further information on the RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap: The RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap | Civil Aviation Safety Authority 

AAUS is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 UAS Industry Participation Scholarship.
We extend our appreciation to Airservices Australia for their ongoing support of the scholarship.

Congratulations to this year’s scholarship recipients: Miryam Piechocinski, Kyle Stead, Janice Wong, Emily Howman, Amos Wallis, Kasey Williams, Kirstie Lawrence, Yamila Fernandez, and John Fejo. This year's winners reflect the growing talent and innovation within the sector.

AAUS would also like to acknowledge Fiona Lake and Paul Hardy for their expertise in evaluating applications as well as FPV Australia for providing discounted training opportunities to some of the scholarship winners.

AAUS is proud to be hosting its 7th Industry Awards night to recognise individuals and organisations that have made a significant contribution to the Australian uncrewed systems industry.

Award Categories:

• Leadership
• Innovation - Technical
• Innovation - Operations
• Education & Safety
• Social Impact
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Next Generation

The call for nominations is now open.

Submissions for any award must be received by 5:00 pm (AEST) Monday May 12, 2025 .

Award Winners will be announced that the AAUS Gala DInner (held in conjunction with the RPAS in Australian Skies conference 2025) in Canberra on Tuesday June 17, 2025.

More information

Airservices Australia in partnership with the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems (AAUS) is providing a scholarship fund to support Australia's rapidly growing uncrewed industry. The purpose of the UAS Industry Scholarships is to foster greater participation and diversity of participants in the Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) industry.

The scholarship will be used to pay for costs of training and related activities undertaken by individuals to promote the benefits and generate interest in entering the UAS industry, or to gain additional qualifications or experience in the UAS industry, with a focus on increasing the diversity of those seeking to enter the UAS industry.

Scholarship Benefits

Scholarships of up to $5,000 per applicant will be awarded to eligible applicants to cover eligible activities and costs.

A total of $25,000 will be awarded each year for the next five years.

More Details

Airservices Australia has announced the first round of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) Service Suppliers (USS) to connect to the new Flight Information Management System (FIMS), the data-sharing platform that will enable drones and other uncrewed aircraft to be seamlessly incorporated into Australian airspace. 

Following a Request for Proposal in late 2024 seeking specialist USS technology providers to collaborate with Airservices, Australian owned and operated AvSoft and Yarra Drones, along with United States based OneSky, have been selected to participate in the first round of technical integration with the FIMS.  

More Information