By Justin Davis, Drone Camps RC · October 6, 2026
The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded $12 million for 19 drone research and testing projects aimed at safely expanding drone operations in the National Airspace System.
The funded work covers the technologies that will define the next decade of unmanned flight: detect-and-avoid systems, beyond-visual-line-of-sight communications, drone traffic management, and identity verification, among others.
These are the building blocks regulators need before routine BVLOS operations and dense drone traffic become reality. Detect-and-avoid and reliable communications are prerequisites for drones sharing the sky at scale; traffic management and identity verification are prerequisites for public trust.
For the FPV and hobby community, it's a reminder that the technology pipeline keeps moving — and that today's research projects become tomorrow's airspace rules. The results of these 19 projects will quietly shape what all of us are allowed to do with our aircraft in the years ahead.
