The Low-Altitude Economy (LAE) refers to economic activity in low-altitude airspace enabled by drones, remotely piloted systems, intelligent sensors, and eVTOL aircraft.

Satellite and other positioning and communication networks often provide continuity and reliability for Low-Altitude Economy services.

Professional drones are multi-sensor platforms used for advanced services such as environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, precision logistics, industrial security, advanced agriculture, emergency management, and dynamic mapping.

Investing in data platforms, open standards, concrete use cases, and integration between space, air, and territory can transform the Low-Altitude Economy from a technological niche into an economic infrastructure.

In Europe, the regulatory framework for low-altitude airspace management is structuring around the concept of U-space, which introduces digital services for drone traffic management, system interoperability, and operational safety.

For Italy and Europe, the Low-Altitude Economy represents a strategic opportunity supported by existing industrial competencies, networks of innovative SMEs, and a mature space ecosystem.

The most mature use cases for the Low-Altitude Economy occur in high-operational-complexity contexts such as cities, ports, and energy and industrial corridors.

The author has worked in aerospace since 2004 and in the sea economy since 2011.

Low-altitude airspace is a finite and shared resource that requires an appropriate regulatory infrastructure for the Low-Altitude Economy to scale.

The author directs Economia dello Spazio Magazine, Economia del Mare Magazine, and Space& Blue Magazine and manages institutional and external relations in these sectors for major stakeholders.

The competitive advantage in the Low-Altitude Economy shifts from hardware to the ability to collect, integrate, certify, and monetize data.

The Low-Altitude Economy is a component of the space data economy and can feed value chains involving insurance, utilities, transportation, ports, energy, and urban planning.

The Low-Altitude Economy inherits technologies, competencies, and governance models developed for orbital space and applies them to complex terrestrial contexts.

eVTOL aircraft are positioned as potential new forms of urban mobility within the Low-Altitude Economy and concentrate significant investment and attention.

In port and maritime contexts, the Low-Altitude Economy converges with the blue economy and satellite data to provide surveillance of operational areas, environmental monitoring, and improved safety and logistics.

Urban air mobility value is more likely to emerge initially from enabling services—traffic management, predictive maintenance, digital platforms, and integration with existing transport networks—rather than mass passenger transport.

Electronic warfare and cyberattacks against satellites can involve jamming, spoofing, and data seizure that may take control of or disable a satellite without physical destruction.

India established a Defence Space Agency after conducting its own ASAT test.

Francisco Braco is the Chief of Staff of the Spanish Air and Space Force (JEMA).

The IEEE Opinion Document characterizes the current international environment as multipolar and asymmetric with growing competition over the space domain.

The technological difficulty of attributing electronic or cyberattacks in space increases the risk of covert escalation and complicates diplomatic or military responses.

The use of kinetic antisatellite weapons by states such as the United States, Russia, China, and India creates a risk of Kessler syndrome from orbital debris.

The United States maintains technological and budgetary advantages in space activities that contribute to its asserted 'space superiority' through the USSF.

Europe is pursuing dual-use space programs such as Galileo and Copernicus while its overall approach to space defence remains fragmented.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (OST) was drafted during the Cold War to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in orbit.

The IEEE Opinion Document was authored by Captain Alfredo Gil Laso and astrophysicist Alicia López Jiménez.

Dual-use characteristics of space technology enable states to deploy strategic surveillance, secure communications, or missile-detection capabilities under civilian or commercial programs.

The United States established the United States Space Force (USSF) in 2019.

The absence of robust international verification and sanction mechanisms for space activities enables states to develop advanced military capabilities without formally breaching existing international law.

The BeiDou navigation system provides the People’s Liberation Army of China with capabilities for guidance and positioning while operating as a global public service.

Russia is developing satellites described as inspectors under the Nivelir program capable of proximity maneuvers with unspecified purposes.

Modern civil infrastructure sectors—including air and maritime transport, financial transactions, precision agriculture, and disaster management—depend critically on orbital assets.

GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou satellite navigation systems have both civilian and military applications.

China conducted an antisatellite (ASAT) test in 2007.

The Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos (IEEE) published an Opinion Document titled La militarización del espacio ultraterrestre: una nueva carrera armamentística.

The Outer Space Treaty does not prohibit military uses of space for communications or intelligence and does not regulate conventional weapons, non-kinetic systems, or antisatellite (ASAT) tests.

The IEEE Opinion Document recommends that Spain develop defensive capabilities to protect its space and communications infrastructure and collaborate with European partners on technology, doctrine, and capabilities.

Terran Orbital is scheduled to deliver the completed Nebula satellite bus for the Mitsubishi Electric LEO Demo Mission in 2027.

Terran Orbital’s Nebula platform is a high-performance microsatellite bus designed for rapid delivery and constellation scalability.

The mission’s QKD demonstration is intended as a step toward realizing a global quantum internet and addressing potential vulnerabilities of current encryption methods to future quantum computing attacks.

The project follows an 18-month delivery timeline measured from the Authorization to Proceed (ATP) agreement.

The Mitsubishi Electric LEO Demo Mission currently has a tentative launch window set for 2029.

Peter Krauss is the CEO of Terran Orbital.

The Mitsubishi Electric LEO Demo Mission is a collaboration between Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric US, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan.

Terran Orbital, a Lockheed Martin Company, was selected to provide its Nebula satellite bus for the Mitsubishi Electric LEO Demo Mission.

The Mitsubishi Electric LEO Demo Mission is a Japanese-led initiative to establish provably secure communication links between ground stations and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites using quantum mechanics.

The primary objective of the Mitsubishi Electric LEO Demo Mission is the on-orbit demonstration of a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Optical Terminal payload.

The Nebula platform was previously used to fulfill platform requirements for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 Transport Layer.

Skynopy operates a global network of 17 ground sites.

Skynopy’s approach centralizes disparate ground station networks to allow satellites to connect to a scalable network of ground stations without long lead times for downlink planning.