AUVSI Commends Increasing Competitiveness for American Drones Act of 2023

February 8, 2023 | AUVSI News

Arlington, Va. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced the Increasing Competitiveness for American Drones Act of 2023, bipartisan legislation to advance the integration of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, into the National Airspace System (NAS).  

The bill implements recommendations from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) report and mandates that the FAA proceed with publishing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for BVLOS operations. AUVSI President and CEO Brian Wynne served on the FAA BVLOS ARC and contributed to the report, which was published in March 2022. Nearly a year later, the FAA has not yet published an NPRM. The Increasing Competitiveness for American Drones Act of 2023 also reorganizes and aligns UAS integration responsibilities within the FAA by establishing an Associate Administrator for UAS Integration and creating a UAS Certification Unit. Finally, the bill reauthorizes and expands the scope of the agency’s UAS Test Site Program. 

On behalf of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), Chief Advocacy Officer Michael Robbins issued the following statement in support of the legislation: 

“Commercial drone operations provide valuable services to the American public and workforce – but significant regulatory hurdles are hampering these benefits from reaching their fullest potential and jeopardize U.S. global leadership in aviation. The regulatory challenges are not driven by safety, they are hampered by bureaucracy. We accordingly have urged Congress to prioritize drone integration, and we are grateful for the support of Senators Warner and Thune in this cause. 

AUVSI is proud to endorse this legislation, and we urge Congress to include it as part of their critical work this year to pass a multi-year FAA Reauthorization.”