FAA Releases UAS Detection and Mitigation ARC Report
On February 6, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) publicly released the final report of the UAS Detection and Mitigation Systems Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC), which includes recommendations for a framework that would promote the safe and widespread adoption of systems to detect and mitigate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at airports and across the National Airspace System (NAS). This report is the culmination of eight months of work by a diverse set of representatives from the aviation community, critical infrastructure, law enforcement, UAS detection and mitigation companies, standard-setting bodies, government entities, societal users, and other subject matter experts.
AAAE was one of 58 members that participated in the ARC. Stephanie Gupta, AAAE's Senior Vice President for Security and Facilitation, along with Roy Fuhrmann, Chief Operating Officer for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission, chaired a working group focused on how FAA should oversee the use of UAS detection and mitigation systems at airports while ensuring the safety and efficiency of the NAS. Chris McLaughlin, Executive Vice President of Operations at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, co-chaired a working group on UAS operational requirements. Finally, Adam Bouchard, Vice President of Operations at Tampa International Airport, led the airport detection case study, which was instrumental in finalizing airport-focused recommendations.
The ARC's final report can be read here.
Background: The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 required FAA to work with other federal entities to ensure that technologies and systems that are developed, tested, or deployed to detect and/or mitigate potential UAS risks do not adversely impact or interfere with the safety of the NAS or airport operations. This included requiring FAA to develop a plan for the certification, permitting, authorizing, or allowing of UAS detection and mitigation technologies in the NAS. Since spring 2023, the ARC has been a forum for the U.S. aviation community and UAS stakeholders to discuss and provide recommendations to the FAA to meet this objective.
Summary of ARC Recommendations: In the final report released today, the ARC provides a range of recommendations to help FAA develop a framework of actions and policies that will promote the adoption of UAS detection and mitigation systems. Specifically, the ARC recommended that FAA and other relevant federal agencies do the following:
Consider UAS detection and mitigation separately for the purposes of making policy decisions.
Conduct the necessary research and analysis to establish minimum performance standards, a safety framework, best practices, training programs, and a continually evolving approved list of technologies for UAS detection and mitigation systems.
Develop protocols for testing UAS detection systems in the airport environment. This would allow approved third parties to conduct system testing and authorization. FAA had expressed reluctance about delegating the evaluation of these systems to third parties, but the ARC believes that testing protocols would mitigate this concern.
Establish an air navigation service provider to deconflict operations within the airport terminal airspace. The ARC recognized that monitoring of UAS detection systems and aircraft deconfliction responsibilities in the airport environment may not be adequately managed by a detection and mitigation system operator or air traffic controller under the existing framework.
Develop a clear approval process for detection and mitigation systems to be deployed at airports and non-airport facilities. As part of this proposed process, the ARC recommended that detection system operators complete training on these processes while mitigation system operators complete training and certification.
Do not require airports to acquire and/or deploy UAS detection and mitigation systems; this should remain voluntary. During the ARC, AAAE stressed the importance of the federal government not imposing mandates on airports with regard to these systems.
Create a scalable regulatory framework for operational requirements with privacy protections for UAS operators and the public. This framework should include verified operator and data-sharing programs.
While not included in the recommendations, the ARC report also highlights concerns surrounding legal authorities, regulatory uncertainty, and escalation protocols to respond to a UAS incursion.
What's Next: The ARC has officially provided the FAA with its final report and recommendations. The agency is also in the process of concluding its testing and evaluation of UAS detection and mitigation systems at five airports across the country, which began in 2022. FAA will be evaluating the ARC recommendations, along with data collected from system testing, to develop standards that can be used to qualify systems for use in the NAS and at airports. The agency will also be considering how to update its policies to promote greater use of these systems nationwide.
