Legal

Airspace & regulation

Last updated: 15 September 2026

Flying a drone in the UK is regulated, and an autonomous one is no exception. This page says what we can say today, and points you at the official sources rather than paraphrasing them.

⚠ This page deliberately makes no claim about the HRN-01's certification, weight class or operational category. Those statements go here once they are confirmed, and not before. Have an aviation adviser review the final version.

Who regulates it

Drone flight in the UK is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The rules that apply to a flight depend on the aircraft's weight and equipment, where it is flown, and how close it comes to people and property that are not involved.

What applies to any drone flown in the UK

The Drone and Model Aircraft Code sets out the basic rules for every flight.
Most drones need the operator to hold an Operator ID, and the person flying to hold a Flyer ID, both from the CAA. Whether a fully autonomous flight counts as “flying” for this purpose is exactly the kind of question we will answer on this page once we can do so definitively.
Airspace restrictions apply near airports, prisons, and other sensitive sites, and can change at short notice. Check restrictions before any flight.
Recording people is also a data-protection matter. The Information Commissioner's Office publishes guidance on domestic CCTV and cameras that capture beyond your own boundary, and the same principles apply to a camera on a drone.

Our position

The HRN-01 is designed to patrol within the boundary of the property it protects, at low altitude, and to make its classification decisions on the aircraft rather than sending video anywhere. The system's regulatory status, and what a customer must do to operate it lawfully at their address, will be stated here in full before any unit is supplied. Until then, please treat everything on this site as a description of a product in development.

Questions

If you have a regulatory or airspace question about the system, email [email protected].