FAA to test anti-drone systems at five airports

According to an article published on the uasvision website on 4 March 2021, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has selected five major commercial airports to test anti-drone systems as part of a research project on the detection and mitigation of safety risks posed by unmanned aircraft systems at airports, in order to evaluate technologies and systems capable of detecting and mitigating the safety risks drones can pose.

These airports include Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey, Syracuse Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, New York, Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, Huntsville International Airport in Huntsville, Alabama, and Tacoma International Airport in Seattle, Washington.

These airports meet FAA requirements for different test environments and are representative of airports in the United States. Through project research aimed at implementing new technologies to provide safer airports for passengers and manned aircraft, a series of standards will be developed for drone detection and security risk reduction technologies at airports across the country. Researchers plan to test and evaluate at least 10 technologies or systems at these airports. Testing will begin later this year and continue through 2023.

The FAA Reauthorisation Act of 2018 requires the FAA to ensure that technologies used to detect or mitigate potential risks posed by drones will not interfere with the safe operation of airports. The FAA does not support the use of anti-drone systems by any entity other than the federal sector, and only the federal sector has clear statutory authority to use the technology, including requirements for extensive coordination with the FAA to ensure that safety risks are mitigated.

Grupo SOBO‘s drone countermeasures are widely used in airports around the world to counter the threat of drones, and are well battle-tested, so please feel free to enquire!