The Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) today announced that Michael Robbins, Chief Advocacy Officer, will co-chair a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) C-UAS Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC).

The ARC fulfils a provision of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act to convene an ARC on Airport Safety and Airspace Hazard Mitigation Enforcement (Section 383). The ARC will make recommendations for the expanded use of, and possible standards for, drone detection and mitigation technologies.

Section 383 requires FAA to ensure technologies or systems that are developed, tested, or deployed by authorized federal departments and agencies to detect and mitigate potential risks posed by errant or hostile uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) do not adversely impact or interfere with the safe and efficient operation of the national airspace system. The committee will convene for the first time in May 2023 and plans to issue its final report in early 2024.

“I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with FAA and diverse airspace stakeholders on cUAS policy development. We will work under an aggressive timeline to recommend consensus-based standards that maintain the highest levels of airspace safety and security, and support U.S. leadership in the future of aviation technologies,” said Robbins.

 

In addition to the new ARC, AUVSI leadership has represented the UAS and AAM industries on various FAA groups including the Beyond Visual Line of Sight Aviation Rulemaking Committee (BVLOS ARC), Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee (AAAC), and Management Advisory Council (MAC).

Robbins’ industry co-chair on the ARC will be Matt Cornelius, Executive Vice President of Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA). AUVSI and ACI-NA collaborated together in 2019 on the Blue Ribbon Task Force on UAS Mitigation at Airports, which produced a report with policy recommendations and a draft airport UAS incident response plan.

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