The FAA has designated two new Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Test Sites, located in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and under the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. These are the first additions to the national test site network since 2016, bringing the total number of operational sites to nine.
According to FAA officials, the expansion of the test site program is designed to accelerate the safe integration of drones into the National Airspace System (NAS) by focusing on several critical technical challenges:
- BVLOS Implementation: These sites will provide the controlled environments necessary to gather data for the proposed Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) rule introduced in August 2025.
- Operational Scaling: Testing will focus on multiple-drone operations and increasingly autonomous systems, allowing the FAA to evaluate how several aircraft can safely share airspace.
- Advanced Air Mobility (AAM): The sites will serve as testbeds for cargo delivery and urban air mobility concepts, helping to modernize air traffic management for non-traditional aircraft.
- Security and Navigation: Researchers will use the sites to verify safety protocols and navigation procedures required for drones to operate alongside manned aircraft without reducing overall airspace capacity.
The first seven UAS Test Site locations include:
- Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration
- Northern Plains UAS Test Site in North Dakota
- New Mexico State University UAS Test Site
- State of Nevada UAS Test Site
- New York UAS Test Site
- Texas A&M University Corpus Christi Autonomy Research Institute
- Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership in Virginia.
Data collected from the nine test locations will inform the FAA’s future rulemaking and the development of Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems, FAA officials noted.
For more information: FAA.gov
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