Press Release

The National Drone and Advanced Air Mobility Initiative Act

House Republicans introduced the National Drone and Advanced Air Mobility Initiative Act this month to promote domestic production and deployment of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) – colloquially known as drones – and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) technology. In a new insight, Technology and Innovation Policy Analyst Joshua Levine explains what the bill would do and walks through its benefits and drawbacks.

Key points:

  • To bolster research, development, and deployment of civilian UAS and AAM, the bill would provide $1.7 billion in funding and create an initiative to coordinate research across federal agencies.
  • The bill would also assess the threats posed by foreign civilian drones, particularly those produced in China, and enact measures to prohibit the use of federal funds to purchase drones from a “foreign country of concern.”
  • The bill lacks provisions to address regulatory barriers to commercial drone deployment, fails to establish metrics to measure program success, and risks duplicating private sector investment.

Read the analysis

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