ARLINGTON, Va. – Brian Wynne, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), today issued the following statement on the passage of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization bill (S. 2658) by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
“Today’s passage of an FAA reauthorization measure by the Senate Commerce Committee is an important milestone for accelerating the civil and commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems, as well as expanding collaborative research and operations. We look forward to continuing to work with the Senate as the FAA reauthorization moves through the legislative process.
“While Congress addresses reauthorization, the FAA needs to use all available means to finalize the small UAS rule immediately, and without any further delays, and move ahead with the next regulatory steps on the path for integrating all UAS into the national airspace. Once this happens, we will have an established framework for UAS that will reduce the barriers to commercial operations.”
A 2013 economic impact study by AUVSI found that the industry is projected to create more than 100,000 jobs and provide more than $82 billion in economic impact in the first decade following UAS integration.