The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is creating two new test sites for drones, located in Oklahoma and Indiana, the Department of Transportation announced last week.
The winning site bids came from The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Indiana Economic Development Corp., and are the first new drone testing sites in nearly a decade, according to the FAA.
“From delivering lifesaving medicine to surveying pipelines, drones are already reshaping industries and changing how people and products interact. It’s our job to make sure the United States safely leads the way with this exciting technology – not China,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.?
“We’ve added these new test sites to help us gather critical data and test new systems so we can safely unleash innovation in our skies,” he added.
Specifically, the sites will support the development, testing, and evaluation of public and private unmanned aircraft – also known as drones – and related technologies. This aims to advance the safe integration of drones into national airspace, FAA officials said.
Bryan Bedford, administrator of the FAA, said that the sites will also help commercialize drone technologies.
“These test sites help the U.S. assess emerging technologies to modernize methods for cargo delivery, Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations (BVLOS), and multiple drone operations while informing safety and security,” Bedford said.?
In August, the FAA released a policy document allowing drones to be flown beyond the visual line of sight of their pilots or those observing autonomous aircraft. That followed a White House directive from last summer that sought to expand the approved use of drones in national airspace and enable the military to increase its use of drone technologies.
BVLOS operations will be the primary focus of the testing sites, along with increasingly autonomous operations, advanced air mobility, and “other advanced operations.”
The site in the Chocktaw Nation is the first drone testing site located on reservation land.
“These new technologies can save lives on reservations with useful practices including the transportation of medical supplies to far reaching corners of these tribal lands,” Assistant Secretary of Tribal Government Affairs James Crawford said.
With the new sites, there are a total of nine drone testing locations across the nation.
Other recent investments in drones include the Department of Homeland Security’s $115 million investment in acquiring counter-drone technologies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s distribution of $250 million in counter-drone funding to the District of Columbia and 11 states set to host 2026 World Cup matches.