How New FAA Program Plans to Tackle Increased Drone Integration

Phase is a follow-on to a previous effort that ended in 2025 but identified more challenges.

Jack Daleo

Friday, August 28, 2026 at 01:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Phase 2 of the FAA’s BEYOND program will tackle challenges raised during the initiative’s first phase, which ended in 2025. [Credit: iStock]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA is launching Phase 2 of its BEYOND program to accelerate the integration of small uncrewed aircraft systems (drones) into the National Airspace System.
This phase will select eight new government participants to focus on increasing complex drone operations, including on-airport operations, flights in controlled airspace, and expanding Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) capabilities.
BEYOND Phase 2 aims to address challenges from the initial phase, refine performance metrics, and align with the forthcoming Part 108 rule designed to enable scalable BVLOS operations using advanced detect-and-avoid technology.

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The FAA is launching a new program that could see small uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, integrated at greater scale.

The agency Thursday announced it will select eight new state, local, tribal or territorial government participants to launch the second phase of its BEYOND program, which aims to safely increase drone operations in the National Airspace System (NAS). Phase 1 began in 2020 and ended last year.