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1 1 (May 14, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdami0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF. ' riE -E-'. r h ,,, , i Protecting Against Rogue Drones May 14, 2020 RW~,\, f~zro,,rcr As of March 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had registered more than 1.5 million unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), often referred to as drones. More than 70% are operated by recreational users. FAA estimates that by 2024, about 2.3 million UAS, including 1.5 million recreational drones and model aircraft and about 800,000 commercial UAS, will be registered to fly in U.S. airspace. As the UAS market expands, there may be an increasing risk that rogue drones that either fail to obey safety rules or are operated for nefarious purposes could threaten manned aircraft operations, airports, critical infrastructure facilities, and high-profile events. These concerns have prompted Congress to examine options for detecting and interdicting drones. The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-95) mandated that FAA develop a plan to integrate UAS into the national airspace and promulgate regulations allowing certain commercial drone operations. In 2016, FAA issued regulations (14 C.F.R. Part 107) allowing routine operations of commercial UAS weighing less than 55 pounds so long as they are conducted during daylight hours, in good visibility, and at low altitude, provided the drones remain within the operator's visual line of sight and away from airports and manned aircraft. FAA may grant waivers to these restrictions on a case-by-case basis. UAS flown strictly for noncommercial purposes, including recreational drones and radio-controlled model aircraft that can sometimes be much larger than the 55-pound limit for commercial UAS, were exempted from these rules and, instead, operate under safety guidelines set by recreational user groups. Like commercial operators, recreational users must register with FAA and may do so through an online registration system. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-254) imposed additional requirements for hobbyists, limiting recreational drone flights to altitudes at or below 400 feet and mandating FAA institute testing to assess operators' knowledge of airspace and safety regulations. FAA is in the process of implementing these testing requirements. These requirements that recreational drones remain at low altitudes and that operators learn safety rules were imposed following close calls and collisions with manned aircraft. Between 2016 and 2019, airline pilots reported, on average, more than 100 drone sightings per month to FAA, and social media have transmitted photos and videos taken by drones in close proximity to airports and passenger airliners. In September 2017, a hobby drone launched from a park in Brooklyn, New York, was intentionally flown beyond its operator's line of sight and collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter patrolling a temporary no-fly zone around New York City. The helicopter landed safely, but the incident damaged the main rotor assembly, where fragments of the drone were found. The following month, a drone struck a chartered turboprop near Quebec City, Canada. That aircraft also was damaged but managed to land safely. FAA-sponsored research has found that collisions with drones weighing eight pounds or less can cause more structural damage than collisions with birds of similar weight. Experts fear that a collision between a small drone and a manned aircraft, or a drone being ingested into a jet engine, could be catastrophic. Airport officials have treated drone threats with considerable caution. In December 2018, hundreds of flights at London's Gatwick airport were canceled over a three-day period after multiple drone sightings near the runway. Three weeks later, London's Heathrow airport was also briefly shut down due to a drone sighting, as was Newark-Liberty Airport in New Jersey in January 2019. In addition to careless and reckless drone operations, homeland security and law enforcement agencies have uncovered incidents involving drones transporting illegal drugs across U.S. borders, dropping contraband into prison yards, and conducting industrial espionage. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned of an escalating threat that terrorists and transnational criminal organizations might launch domestic drone attacks on critical infrastructure facilities, landmarks, and high-profile mass gatherings, citing the use of reconnaissance and weaponized drones by insurgents in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. In 2011, the FBI thwarted a terrorist plot to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with explosives-laden model aircraft. C,\,-,,tr<AHfng the Threat FAA has encouraged UAS manufacturers to incorporate technology that could reduce the risk of rogue operations, such as built-in geofencing capabilities that prevent the drone from entering airspace that is off-limits to UAS. These systems, however, may not have current information, as they usually require the operator to keep airspace data up to date. FAA has also developed the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) system to disseminate information regarding low-altitude controlled airspace in the vicinity of airports and to grant airspace access to certain commercial UAS operations on a case-by-case basis. In the future, FAA envisions that these resources will be integrated with Remote Identification capabilities to monitor compliance. The FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-190) required FAA to develop standards for the remote identification of UAS and to coordinate with the National K~:> mppm qq\ p\w gn'a', ggmm a 'S I 11\111WILiN,

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