Scaling Drone Operations Requires More Than Just Part 108

FAA officials at Commercial UAV Expo discussed how regulation, information sharing, airspace modernization and security must work together as advanced aviation scales

As the FAA works toward a regulatory framework for routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations, the challenge goes beyond determining who can fly and under what conditions.

At Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas today, FAA officials described a broader task: developing the systems needed to manage advanced aviation at scale while identifying potential threats and giving operators, regulators and law enforcement the information they need.

The discussion brought together Jessica Jones, Executive Director of the FAA’s Office of Advanced Aviation Technologies, and Ben Supko, FAA Associate Administrator for Security and Intelligence. Kenji Sugahara, Director of the Oregon Department of Aviation, moderated the session.

The conversation highlighted a significant shift in the FAA’s approach to drone integration. The next stage will require more than approving additional operations. It will require modernizing the systems that support them.

From Individual Approvals to Operations at Scale

Sugahara opened the discussion with a big question: asking how the industry gets BVLOS [beyond visual line of sight] operations at scale into the National Airspace System (NAS). He also raised the related challenge of integrating counter-UAS capabilities and distinguishing legitimate drone operators from unauthorized aircraft.

Jones pointed to the proposed Part 108 rule, which will regularize BVLOS flight, as an important part of the answer.

“Getting Part 108 solves a major problem for the FAA: it gets away from one-off approvals to a more scalable, predictable NAS – so that companies can develop their businesses and invest,” Jones said.

Moving away from individual approvals would represent an important change for commercial operators. However, Jones placed that regulatory change within the larger effort to modernize the airspace.

“We need to focus on airspace modernization. This is about modernizing the NAS,” she said. “As we move in that direction – making things scalable and predictable – we are moving towards modernizing the NAS.”

That growth also changes the security challenge. When Sugahara asked how the security picture will change, Supko answered that expanded operations may actually make security easier.

Supko suggested that a larger number of routine operations could provide more information about what normal drone activity looks like. That, in turn, could help authorities identify activity that falls outside expected patterns.

“When we have more data, we are able to determine when a drone is behaving outside of normal parameters,” Supko said. “Operations at scale may actually make it easier to determine when there are problems.”

More Operations Will Require More Information

The discussion then turned to what authorities may need to know when drones operate near critical infrastructure or other sensitive locations. Identification and position are important, but Supko said authorities may also need information that helps them evaluate an operation in context. That could include an operator’s previous history.

Law enforcement, he said, is experienced in assessing threat levels and determining an appropriate response. He also emphasized that increasing RF interference or kinetic activity in the NAS is not the objective.

“We want as much as possible to mitigate with ground resources,” Supko said.

Jones connected the security discussion directly to information sharing and performance-based regulation.

“As we move forward in innovation, we have to understand that the sharing of information is necessary – and it’s part of the plan,” she said. “Data-driven decision making is very important. Performance-based regulation is important. The only way we get there is to share information collectively.”

Jones said UTM systems have already deconflicted 1.5 million BVLOS operations, with that number expected to grow.

The implication is significant. As routine drone operations increase, information generated by those operations could help authorities both manage the airspace and identify activity that requires closer attention.

Building an Information-Centric NAS

That raises another challenge: making useful information available when different organizations and technology providers hold different pieces of it.

Sugahara asked how the industry could turn those pieces into a common operating picture.

Jones described an “info-centric NAS” in which participants can access the information they need.

“We need everyone to be able to pull the information that they need,” she said. “The info-centric NAS is a database, but we need people to be able to pull what they need to operate safely.”

The concept could become increasingly important as the FAA integrates drones alongside other emerging aviation technologies. Operators need information to conduct flights safely. Regulators need information for oversight. Security agencies and law enforcement may need different information to identify and respond to potential threats.

The challenge is therefore not simply collecting more data. It is making the right information available to the right participants when they need it.

From Approving Flights to Managing Operations at Scale

Part 108 could remove a major barrier to widespread BVLOS operations by replacing many individual approvals with a more predictable regulatory framework. But the Commercial UAV Expo discussion made clear that regulation is only part of the challenge.

Routine operations at scale will require better ways to share information, identify unusual activity, protect critical infrastructure, and give operators and authorities access to the information they need.

That puts information sharing and security alongside regulation as key pieces of advanced aviation integration. It also helps explain why Jones framed drone integration as part of the FAA’s broader airspace modernization effort.

The shift is significant. For years, much of drone integration has focused on whether individual operations could be conducted safely. As Part 108 opens a path toward routine BVLOS operations, the challenge increasingly becomes how to safely and securely manage large numbers of legitimate operations in shared airspace.

The discussion in Las Vegas suggested that the answer will depend not on any single rule or technology, but on connecting regulation, operational data, security tools, research and testing to support advanced aviation at scale.