Michael Kratsios, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer at the White House discussed U.S. technology priorities and strategic initiatives saying the White House is committed to working with the industry to integrate drones into our national airspace.
President Trump believes in emerging technologies and champions innovation. Recent experience in the wake of hurricanes that have hit America have shown the benefits of using drones as an emergency response for disaster relief. This was the first time there has been extensive deployment of drones to help first responders. There was extensive cross-agency collaborative effort with over 300 emergency FAA approvals to expedite operations.
Michael Kratsios believes that we are at an inflection point, with now over 1M UAS registered, of which 75,000 are registered for commercial use. The White House wants to encourage the development of UAS in America. President Trump wants to make America a leader in UAS technology and sees it as an opportunity to create more American jobs.
There are still many challenges, such BVLoS, night flights, flights over people, ahead and the White House is making efforts to refine regulations. The seven test sites have been instrumental in making progress. NAS integration is both a technological challenge and a PR challenge. The White House wants to meet these challenges correctly, smartly and safely.
Overall, this was an impressive statement of White House commitment to integration of UAS into NAS.