What Happened
Expanding Drone Integration Into National Airspace System
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched Phase 2 of the BEYOND programme, aiming to expand the integration of drones into the national airspace system (NAS). The programme will double in size, with up to eight additional state, local, tribal, and territorial entities to be selected as lead participants. The FAA is seeking new participants to support the programme’s focus areas, including infrastructure, scalability, safety, and automation. According to the FAA, the expansion builds on the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration pilot programme and BEYOND Phase 1, which generated critical real-world operational and safety data. This development was first reported by Unmanned Airspace.