FAA to Put Drones Into National Airspace System; Seeks White Papers from Industry

The Federal Aviation Administration is seeking white papers from industry for the development of tools to support integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.

FAA issued Tuesday a broad agency announcement that would will up to $6M in funding to seven vendors through 2024 to build UAS integration technologies.

Each contractor is expected to get between $425K and $850K in funding.

Focus areas under the BAA include flight warning systems, detect and avoid capability, drone traffic management and privacy protections.

FAA said it prefers technologies already at Technology Readiness Levels 5 through 7, which include pre-prototype ready for simulation testing and operation-ready prototypes.

“To be eligible for consideration and potential contract award, the applicant must be a Qualified Commercial Entity seeking to demonstrate or validate technologies that the FAA considers essential to the safe integration of UAS in the national airspace systems at FAA designated UAS test sites,” according to the BAA.

Interested parties can submit white papers to the agency through June 28.