Tagged: FAA

FAA proposes widespread civilian drone use in US airspace by 2015

Written by RT News

Published time: November 08, 2013

drone_siUS authorities have presented a plan for the mass use of drones in American airspace. Though there have been few objections to the move so far, a global government surveillance drone program is likely to raise privacy concerns later on.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has presented a  detailed plan for drones to roam across American skies  within the next two years.

The plan sets September 2015 as a deadline for integrating UAVs  into US airspace, and six possible drone test sites will be  selected out of 26 proposed ones by the end of 2013.

The move has been continuously lobbied by the trade group  Aerospace Industries Association, which expects great demand for  civilian-use drones, including for agriculture, firefighting,  weather forecast and tracking wildlife.

Within the next five years, after appropriate regulations are  introduced, whole 7,500 small UAVs will be operating in US  airspace, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said at an aerospace  news conference in Washington on Thursday.

Huerta outlined the ultimate goal of the American drone industry:  global leadership that could enable the US to set standards for  the industry worldwide.

“We recognize that the expanding use of unmanned aircraft  presents great opportunities, but it’s also true that integrating  these aircraft presents significant challenges,” Reuters  quoted Huerta as saying. He added that US aviation regulations  and safety rules would remain a “gold standard” for the rest of  the world “to maintain our position of global leadership.”

“We have operational goals and safety issues we need to  consider as we expand the use of unmanned aircraft,” Huerta  said.

At the same news conference, AIA President Marion Blakey promised  that UAVs would bring an “enormity of benefits” to  American society and that unmanned aircraft represent   “America’s next great aviation frontier.”

According to industry forecaster Teal Group, the estimated $6.6  billion spent worldwide on drone research and development in 2013  will grow to $11.4 billion in 2022, AP reported.

  True beneficiaries of drones used in America

The move to use drones widely inside the US had been long  expected after drones were introduced into the US Army.

Drones have some clear advantages over fixed surveillance cameras  on lampposts and at other locations, as they require the video  streams from CCTVs to be processed. For instance, drones can  always be focused on the desired objects at the operators’ will  at any given time, and drones are cost-effective mobile tools in  America’s vast low-rise suburbia.

The FAA previously claimed it has no interest in letting weaponized  UAVs, like the missile-equipped Predator, into US airspace  anytime soon.

So far nobody is talking about armed UAVs prowling US city  skylines, but officials’ ideas about drone data retention has  alarmed privacy advocates in the country.

Huerta shared some interesting statistics on who is using drones  in the US the most. He mentioned that apart from synoptics,  environmental specialists and educational institutions, there are  about 80 law enforcement agencies that operate small size  surveillance drones, with the FAA granting each of them public  use waivers on a case-by-case basis.

“If we’re going to take full advantage of the benefits that  we’re talking about from these technologies, we need to be  responsive to public concerns about privacy,” Huerta said.

Reportedly, not only the FAA, but also Pentagon, the Department  of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of justice are  taking part in a multi-agency group that has also released a  comprehensive plan accelerating integration of UAVs into US  national airspace. All data gathered by the six test sites will  go straight to that interagency group, Huerta said.

The test drone sites will have to comply with federal and state  privacy laws, account for collected data and present annual  reviews on privacy practices, Huerta said.

“It’s crucial that as we move forward with drone use, those  procedural protections are followed by concrete restrictions on  how data from drones can be used and how long it can be  stored,” said Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel for  the American Civil Liberties Union.

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