The FAA’s drone research awards, announced on 5 October as $12 million for 19 companies, add up to $11.7 million across 19 contracts held by 14 recipients. Federal contract records date the awards between 16 and 22 September. One firm, ANRA Technologies, holds four of them.
The money comes from the FAA’s UAS Broad Agency Announcement program, which pays companies to test technology at the agency’s designated drone test sites. The 2024 FAA reauthorization act sets aside $6 million a year for it through fiscal 2028, as matching funds for companies that contract with a test site.
Who got what
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, the maker of the MQ-9 Reaper, holds the largest single award: $1.33 million for ground-based systems that help drones avoid other aircraft. Lighthouse Avionics follows with $1.32 million for surveillance along long-range drone routes, then ResilienX with $1.10 million and NAVMAR Applied Sciences with $1.00 million.
ANRA’s four awards total $1.86 million, the most for any recipient. They cover links between air-taxi operations and vertiports, a common altitude reference for drones, connecting drone traffic systems to air traffic control at airports, and AI to tell drone types apart. SPS Aerial Remote Sensing holds three awards worth $1.59 million.
DroneUp, one of seven companies the FAA has certified for drone package delivery, received $539,442 for a way to check a drone’s identity and its approval to fly. Skydweller, which builds a solar-powered long-endurance aircraft, received $300,000 for onboard systems to avoid other aircraft. Oklahoma State University, the only university on the list, received $224,575.
The rule the research is for
Many of the projects deal with one problem. A drone flying beyond its pilot’s sight needs to know what else is in the sky, and other pilots need to see it. Three projects are about avoiding other aircraft, and two more test ways to make drones easier to see.
That is the ground Part 108 covers, the FAA rule that would let drones fly beyond visual line of sight without case-by-case waivers. It has been under review at the White House budget office since 10 July. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the research would give the agency “better data”.
Every award runs until at least 24 September 2027.
