Domestic Counter-UAS National Plan Proposed By White House

The White House recently released the ‘Domestic Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems National Action Plan with an eye toward safeguarding the recreational and commercial UAS in the U.S. National Airspace while protecting against malicious use. The plan extends the reach of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in enforcing the plan, through a series of recommendations.

Some recommendations included an active list of US Government authorized detection equipment (to simplify agency procurement); establish oversight and mechanisms to support infrastructure owner/operator UAS procurement; establish a national c-UAS training center to promote interagency collaboration; create federal UAS incident tracking database and repository; national mechanism to coordinate R&D, testing, and evaluation on UAS detection/mitigation; enactment of criminal statutes and penalties for deterrent of UAS-related crimes; international cooperation on c-UAS technologies and system defenses

UAS’s serve various commercial and recreational purposes, and government recognizes the propensity for technological advantages to be bent for criminal purposes. A regular occurrence is drones being used to transport contraband to prison inmates, and also to deliver illegal drugs. The Academy of Model Aeronautics stated that they have been meeting with Congress on this issue, in an effort to be a part of the solution that does not negatively impact those responsibly and safely flying drones.

FMI: https://modelaircraft.org