The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has pushed back its timeline for the release of national policy on integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the United States’ national airspace.
It is currently expected that a proposed rule should go to the Office of Management and Budget by July 1st, according to a new Department of Transportation report. The July target is four months later than was estimated in a report issued in March 2013. The US DOT cited “unanticipated issues requiring further analysis” leading to the delay. Under the updated timeline, the rule would be published in the Federal Register on Oct. 17.
The FAA, expects to begin commercial licensing of UAVs in 2015 and forecasts that 30,000 UAVs will fly in domestic airspace within the next 20 years. Commercial applications include aerial photography, wildlife tracking and monitoring, agriculture, mapping, remote sensing and security just to name a few. UAV usage in domestic applications has already taken flight in countries around the world including Canada and many European countries while the US suffers administrative delays strangling high tech solutions available to combat domestic challenges.
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