If you have any golf games scheduled with friends or family working in FAA administrative offices over the next three months, forget it. On June 6, 2025, President Trump issued two executive orders “Unleashing American Drone Dominance,” and “Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty” which should accelerate the commercial potential of beyond line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations, add new layers of counter-UAS security to critical infrastructure and improve access of eVTOL operators to the National Airspace System.
(See also US establishes counter drone task force as part of wider EO on securing airspace and Presidential order directs FAA to enable routine BVLOS operations).
But they also load federal agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department for Transportation and the Secretary of Commerce, with an unprecedented list of time-consuming tasks, varying from the relatively simple – establishing an eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) as an extension of the BEYOND program – to the highly complex – within 120 days, initiating the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in and expedite the review of UAS waiver applications.
The executive orders have been widely welcomed.
According to Lisa Ellman, Chief Executive Officer of the US Commercial Drone Alliance: “We fully support the long-overdue steps taken by the Trump administration in these Executive Orders—establishing a framework to scale safe and secure drone operations while enhancing drone security and airspace transparency—to modernize our domestic drone policy and assure American aviation leadership into the next century of flight.”
“Today is a historic day for the drone industry in the United States,” said Michael Robbins, AUVSI’s President & CEO. “The White House Executive Orders issued today showcase that drones are critical to American economic strength, national security, and global leadership…. As we have long advocated, innovation and security must advance in lockstep, and President Trump got that right with these Executive Orders.
The US drone industry has been waiting for months – some would say years – on the Department of Transportation to introduce a rule which will make authorisation of BVLOS flights quicker and easier. Now it has five (See “Accelerating drone operations while securing critical infrastructure”).
The drone dominance order is also aimed at unblocking two of the main institutional obstacles to scaling eVTOL operations in the USA: easier access to low level airspace and the establishment of five advanced air mobility entire ecosystems, including ground facilities and airspace access, to more closely understand the operational relationships between all stakeholders, including the non-aviation stakeholders.
The “Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty” executive order is another major step forward but not quite the leap that many were expecting. Although there are important new provisions for critical infrastructure managers to increase their defences against rogue drone incursions, it is unclear how the thorny question of widening the remit of mitigation measures beyond the current handful of federal agencies will evolve. But perhaps that is in the fine-print.
But overall this is a dramatic swathe of legislation. In 1994 President Bill Clinton signed the 1994 General Aviation Revitalization Act which changed the fortunes of the US GA industry in one fell swoop. President Trump may have just performed a similar service, to a different sector of the US aviation industry.
| Accelerating drone operations while securing critical infrastructure
These are the key tasks assigned to various federal agencies in the two executive orders. Unleashing American Drone Dominance · Within 30 days a proposed rule enabling routine Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations for UAS for commercial and public safety purposes. A final rule shall be published within 240 days of the date of this order, as appropriate. · Within 30 days clear metrics for assessing the performance and safety of BVLOS operations, and within 180 days, identify and describe additional regulatory barriers and challenges to BVLOS implementation. · Within 120 days, initiate the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in and expedite the review of UAS waiver applications under 14 C.F.R. part 107. · Immediately explore options to ensure that UAS flights beginning and ending in United States airspace, or United States-owned facilities in the high seas, can operate without being subject to the onerous requirements applicable to manned aircraft engaging in international navigation as referenced in the Convention on International Civil Aviation. · Within 240 days an updated roadmap for the integration of civil UAS into the National Airspace System. · Ensure all FAA UAS Test Ranges are fully utilized to support the development, testing, and scaling of American drone technologies, with a focus on BVLOS operations, increasingly autonomous operations, advanced air mobility, and other advanced operations. · Establish the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) as an extension of the BEYOND program to accelerate the deployment of safe and lawful eVTOL operations in the United States. · Select at least five pilot projects that plan to begin eVTOL operations within 90 days after the date on which any agreement for a pilot project is established. Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty · Establish a Federal Task Force to review relevant operational, technical, and regulatory frameworks and develop and propose solutions to UAS threats. · Within 180 days make freely available online NOTAMs and Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) in an open format. · Within 30 days ensure grant programs permit otherwise eligible State, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) agencies to receive grants to purchase UAS or equipment or services for the detection, tracking, or identification of drones and drone signals. · Within 30 days a revision of the August 2020 “Advisory on the Application of Federal Laws to the Acquisition and Use of Technology to Detect and Mitigate Unmanned Aircraft Systems” to reflect relevant developments in Federal law and regulations addressing drones. · Within 60 days automate real-time access to personal identifying information associated with UAS remote identification signals to appropriate executive departments and agencies and SLTT agencies for the purposes of enforcing applicable Federal or State law, with appropriate national security and privacy safeguards. · Within 60 days, publish guidance to aid private critical infrastructure owners or operators in employing technologies to detect, track, and identify drones and drone signals. · Within 90 days submit a recommendation to the President on whether the northern and southern land borders; large airports; Federal facilities; critical infrastructure; and military installations, facilities, and assets should be designated as covered facilities or assets under 6 U.S.C. 124n and 10 U.S.C. 130i and whether any changes to law would be necessary relating to such designation. · Within 30 days explore integrating counter-UAS operational responses as part of Joint Terrorism Task Forces for the purpose of protecting mass gathering events. · Create a National Training Center for Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Center) |
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