The Federal Aviation Administration is expanding a nationwide drone-testing program while pursuing rules that could make long-distance autonomous flights routine, potentially bringing far more unmanned aircraft into American skies for deliveries, emergency response, agriculture and infrastructure work.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Americans could encounter substantially more drones operating overhead as the Federal Aviation Administration expands advanced unmanned-aircraft testing and moves toward regulations designed to allow routine flights far beyond an operator’s line of sight.
The FAA announced an expansion of Phase 2 of its BEYOND program, which brings government agencies and private companies together to test increasingly complicated drone operations in real-world environments, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation report.
The agency plans to double the program’s current participation by selecting as many as eight additional state, local, tribal and territorial entities. Those participants will help regulators confront some of the remaining technical and safety challenges involved in integrating large numbers of drones into the National Airspace System.
The expanded BEYOND program will focus in part on flights beyond visual line of sight, known as BVLOS, along with public-safety missions, airport operations and other increasingly complex uses.
During the first phase, participants completed more than 70,000 flights, including more than 48,000 BVLOS operations. The resulting data helped the FAA develop standards intended to move advanced drone operations away from repeated case-by-case exemptions and toward a broader regulatory framework.
“As drone technology continues to advance, the FAA is focused on building a regulatory framework that is safe, scalable and grounded in real-world data,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said as the Department of Transportation announced the expansion. “Phase 2 of BEYOND will expand the partnerships and operations needed to address remaining challenges in beyond visual line of sight operations, public safety missions, on-airport operations and other complex airspace environments.”
The scale of unmanned aviation is already significant.
“The FAA reports there are currently 837,513 registered UAS operating in the National Airspace System,” Ryan Wallace, executive director and professor at the Center for Advanced Air Mobility at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told the DCNF. “According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there are more than 222,000 aircraft in the U.S. In short, drones outnumber aircraft by [a] factor of 4-to-1. Pilots, air traffic controllers and other stakeholders routinely report sightings of UAS near airports.”
The FAA currently lists 837,513 registered drones and more than 481,000 certificated remote pilots.
“Safely integrating drones into the National Airspace System is a top priority for the FAA,” an agency spokesperson told the DCNF. “Drones are already transforming how we deliver goods, inspect infrastructure, support agriculture, and respond to emergencies. Most drones operating today are required to broadcast Remote ID information, which functions like a digital license plate to support airspace awareness and accountability.”
The next major shift could come from changing how far drones can travel without a pilot physically watching them.
Current FAA Part 107 rules generally require small-drone pilots to maintain visual contact with their aircraft and restrict a remote pilot or visual observer from simultaneously overseeing multiple operations without specific authorization.
Those requirements create a major obstacle to operating large commercial fleets over substantial distances. A delivery network, for example, becomes considerably more difficult to scale when each aircraft must remain visible to an individual operator.
The FAA has proposed a new BVLOS regulatory framework intended to establish a clearer pathway for low-altitude operations without requiring the traditional visual-line-of-sight model.
The proposal covers potential uses including package delivery, agricultural operations, aerial surveying, training, demonstrations, recreation and testing. The agency has described the effort as a way to replace an approval system heavily dependent on individual waivers with predictable requirements for operations that can demonstrate an acceptable level of safety.
Opening the airspace to more BVLOS flights, however, raises an unavoidable question: how to safely manage potentially thousands of additional aircraft that may be operating without pilots physically watching them.
“Increased congestion could have a safety impact,” Mark Askelson, associate vice president for research on national security at the University of North Dakota, told the DCNF. “With increased congestion, the need for enhanced air traffic management and detect-and-avoid systems (systems used on drones to avoid getting too close to other aircraft—primarily crewed aircraft) increases.”
“However, the FAA and industry have been taking a stepwise approach to integrating drones into the UAS airspace, with safety being the number one priority,” Askelson added.
The FAA said increasingly complicated operations will require the supporting aviation infrastructure to evolve with them.
“The FAA only authorizes drone operations that can be conducted safely,” an agency spokesperson told the DCNF. “As operations increase and expand beyond visual line of sight and into more complex shared airspace, the systems supporting operations also need to evolve.”
“That is why the FAA is replacing outdated equipment and building a brand new air traffic control system for the future of flight, which includes automated traffic management, digital identity tools, and enhanced airspace awareness systems.”
One component of that future could operate very differently from the air traffic control system used for conventional aircraft.
The FAA is developing an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management system, or UTM, built around automated digital communication among drone operators, service providers and government systems.
Instead of relying principally on individual pilots speaking by radio with air traffic controllers, the system is designed to coordinate information electronically. Potential functions include flight planning, authorization, surveillance, airspace restrictions and conflict management.
The FAA describes UTM as a separate but complementary system to traditional air traffic services, particularly for low-altitude BVLOS operations. The agency has already begun issuing approvals allowing service providers to assist commercial operators with strategic deconfliction of flights.
Previous FAA UTM testing has examined how those digital systems could manage increasingly complex drone activity as multiple operators begin using the same airspace.
Safety concerns are becoming more prominent as that transition accelerates.
“Recent tragic events have underscored the critical importance of maintaining rigorous safety standards for all operators, including drones in our increasingly complex airspace,” Air Line Pilots Association President Capt. Jason Ambrosi told the DCNF. “Additionally, drone operators who violate established rules and airspace restrictions must face appropriate penalties and consequences to ensure compliance and maintain the integrity of our safety framework.”
Two recent fatal aviation accidents did not involve drones but demonstrated the consequences when aircraft or vehicles come into conflict within complicated aviation environments.
On Jan. 29, 2025, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with PSA Airlines Flight 5342 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people aboard the two aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board later concluded that systemic failures involving airspace design, safety oversight and risk management contributed to the disaster.
Another fatal collision occurred March 22, 2026, when Air Canada Express Flight 8646 struck an airport firefighting vehicle while landing on Runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport.
The captain and first officer were killed, and 39 other people were taken to hospitals, according to the NTSB investigation.
Neither accident involved an unmanned aircraft. Their relevance to the drone debate centers instead on the broader challenge of safely coordinating different types of aircraft and vehicles as the national airspace becomes increasingly complex.
“Pilots, air traffic controllers and other stakeholders routinely report sightings of UAS near airports,” Wallace told the DCNF. “As of June 2026, annual UAS sightings climbed to 917 events—an average of more than 150 per month.”
“While an increase in UAS operation does not automatically translate to degraded safety, increased UAS operations within the national airspace system can add additional challenges—particularly in high-density population areas and airspace with dense air traffic.”
The FAA continues to publish reports of drone sightings near airports, while its broader strategy ultimately envisions unmanned and crewed aircraft operating within the same national airspace rather than keeping drones permanently separated from conventional aviation.
Advocates say making BVLOS operations routine could unlock economic activity that is difficult or impossible under current visual-contact requirements.
“Routine beyond visual line-of-sight operations will fundamentally modernize how low altitude airspace is used in the United States,” Commercial Drone Alliance founder and CEO Lisa Ellman told the DCNF. “With a regulatory framework and digitized airspace system in place, advanced drone operations can occur safely and predictably at scale, supporting everything from infrastructure inspections and public safety response to logistics and agriculture.”
Commercial delivery provides one of the clearest examples of that expansion already underway.
Walmart said in May that its network had surpassed 1 million drone deliveries and was operating from 66 stores across four states serving five metropolitan markets through partners including Wing and Zipline. The retailer reported an average drone-delivery time of 23 minutes.
Wing and Walmart plan to establish more than 270 drone delivery locations by 2027, with a network they say could make the service available to more than 40 million Americans.
Amazon said in May that Prime Air was offering autonomous drone delivery in nine U.S. locations, carrying tens of thousands of eligible products to customers in under an hour.
The commercial applications extend well beyond retail.
Drones are increasingly used to inspect power lines, pipelines, roads and other infrastructure; survey property; monitor crops; assess disasters; support firefighters and law enforcement; and transport medical supplies.
“Expansion of drone operations will drive significant economic growth,” Askelson said. “While there are challenges (e.g., increased risk associated with such operations), the impacts on everyday Americans will be significant. One of the initial ways in which the impact will be felt is humanitarian (rapid response to accidents that saves lives, prescription medicine delivery, etc.). Beyond this, with scale, economic benefits will be significant since, as a society, we will be able to do things more efficiently/economically.”
Wallace similarly said drone technology has already lowered costs for some commercial and government operations.
“We have certainly seen the benefits of UAS operations in varied commercial and government sectors,” Wallace said. “Commercial operators are leveraging UAS technology to perform critical work functions, such as surveying, inspections, and other activities, often at a fraction of the price of conventional methods.”
“Similarly, public safety benefits from deploying the technology in a first-response capacity, enabling early alerting and monitoring of emergency conditions and scene safety.”
The expansion is also tied to a larger competition over who controls the technology and manufacturing capacity behind the growing drone industry.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said the administration wants the next generation of unmanned aviation technology to be developed, tested and manufactured in the United States. The administration has framed drone integration not only as a transportation and commercial issue but as a question of industrial competitiveness and national security.
China currently holds a commanding position in the small commercial drone industry.
In 2025 congressional testimony, then-Defense Innovation Unit Director Douglas Beck said industry estimates indicated China manufactured more than 100 drones for every one produced in the United States.
Beck said Chinese-headquartered companies controlled roughly 70% of the global consumer-drone market and about 90% of the U.S. consumer market. He also warned that non-Chinese components and complete platforms can cost three to five times as much while being available in significantly smaller quantities.
That dependence has military implications as autonomous systems become increasingly important in modern warfare.
“Our adversaries are investing heavily into autonomy … it is the defining technology of current conflicts (e.g., Ukraine/Russia),” Askelson told the DCNF. “Thus, while it may not be apparent in the everyday lives of Americans, our development of autonomous technologies is critical to being able to counter the aggression of our adversaries and to maintain national security.”
The same technology brings risks that extend beyond accidental collisions.
“Certainly, America has benefited both economically and practically from drone technology. However, with emerging technologies also come new problems,” Wallace said.
“The use of UAS has also been adapted for illicit activities such as smuggling contraband into prisons and delivery of narcotics over international borders. In short, the benefits of drones are simultaneously tempered by added social, safety, and security challenges.”
Those competing realities now form the central challenge confronting federal regulators.
The FAA is attempting to create an aviation system capable of accommodating far more unmanned flights while maintaining separation from passenger jets, helicopters and general aviation; developing automated systems capable of managing dense low-altitude traffic; enforcing identification and operating rules; and allowing companies and public agencies to scale applications that are already moving beyond experimental use.
“For everyday Americans, expanded drone operations can deliver very real benefits that go far beyond the aviation sector,” Ellman said. “Drones are already helping assess disasters, inspect power lines and communications infrastructure, spray crops, and deliver critical goods more safely, quickly, and cost-effectively than traditional methods. As these operations continue to scale, the economic and quality of life benefits for Americans will only increase.”
Whether that expansion ultimately means delivery drones, emergency-response aircraft and inspection vehicles become routine sights over American communities will depend heavily on the safety rules, digital traffic-management systems and BVLOS standards now being developed.
What is clear is that the FAA is preparing for a national airspace in which drones are no longer treated as an occasional exception. With more than 837,000 already registered, commercial delivery expanding and Phase 2 of BEYOND moving toward increasingly complex operations, federal regulators are laying the groundwork for unmanned aircraft to become a much larger part of everyday American aviation.
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