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, selecting eight new government participants to integrate small uncrewed aircraft systems (drones) into the National Airspace System at a greater scale.
This phase aims to address remaining challenges in beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, including complex on-airport activities, operations in controlled airspace, and cross-border flights.
BEYOND Phase 2 seeks to transition BVLOS drone operations from waivers to standardized regulations, building on the proposed Part 108 rule, to enable wider and safer adoption of drone technology.
The program will improve upon Phase 1 by modifying performance metrics and expanding partnerships to generate more robust data for scalable and safe drone integration.

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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.