Leaders from the Hogan Lovells and the Commercial Drone Alliance and DRONERESPONDERS discuss cUAS authority, BVLOS progress, and airspace awareness at national conference
At the DRONERESPONDERS National Public Safety UAS Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia on March 10, 2026, industry and public safety leaders gathered to discuss the evolving regulatory environment for drone operations. DRONERESPONDERS is a global non-profit program advancing public safety UAS, counter-UAS (cUAS), and Advanced Air Mobility.
In a fireside chat on regulatory updates, key figures working at the intersection of policy and public safety drone operations came together to discuss the shifting landscape of drone regulations. The discussion was moderated by Liz Forro, Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells and representative of the Commercial Drone Alliance. Panelists included Lisa Ellman, Executive Director of the Commercial Drone Alliance and partner at Hogan Lovells; Jason Day, Director of Training at DRONERESPONDERS; and Charles Werner, Chief of DRONERESPONDERS.
Throughout the conversation, panelists emphasized that continued collaboration between government agencies, industry, and public safety organizations will be essential to move drone integration forward.
Counter-UAS Authority and the Safer Skies Act
A major topic of discussion was the new counter-UAS authority included in the Safer Skies Act, which was incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026.
Lisa Ellman described the legislation as a significant milestone that has been years in development. The measure authorizes state and local governments to use approved counter-UAS equipment under federal guidelines. However, she noted that key implementation questions remain.
“How will jurisdictions be prioritized in terms of training? How will that happen? What’s the approved equipment list?” Ellman asked. “There is a lot that needs to be done.”
Ellman noted that jurisdictions hosting matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are expected to be among the first to receive training and operational guidance, with broader rollout expected later in the year.
Chief Charles Werner said the upcoming global event will provide an important learning opportunity for public safety agencies.
“We’re going to use this World Cup experience as a learning experience,” Werner said. “It’s important for us to connect with industry to see what products are working. We need to be very careful about mitigation, and how we do this in a careful, thoughtful way that makes sense.”
Jason Day noted that the scale and security demands of the tournament have accelerated progress toward enabling counter-UAS authority for state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies.
“I’m glad that the World Cup is happening, because it has accelerated the authority for SLTT [state, local, tribal and territorial public safety agencies],” Day said. “Public safety has been thinking about this for a long time. The scale of the FIFA event has forced us to speed this up.”
He added that training will be critical as authorities expand beyond major event locations.
“Now we need to scale this so that all of these authorities can have the training ahead of an incident,” Day said.
Awareness and Education as Foundations of cUAS
While counter-UAS mitigation tools often receive the most attention, panelists stressed that identification, awareness, and coordination are foundational steps.
“The mitigation part that gets all of the attention is the smallest last piece,” Forro said. “The awareness and identification and coordination pieces can all happen without any authority. There is a lot of work that goes into doing this effectively.”
Day added that education plays a critical role in preventing unsafe drone activity.
“Mitigation starts with education,” he said. “Every authority can help with that. We need to do a better job informing people about what the rules are.”
Panelists also discussed the concept of “dual use” in drone technology, noting that awareness systems developed for defense or commercial purposes can also support broader airspace awareness.
Regulatory Developments: Section 2209 and BVLOS
The panel also examined ongoing regulatory developments affecting the drone industry.
Ellman discussed Section 2209, which was mandated by Congress nearly a decade ago to create a process allowing private entities to restrict drone flights over sensitive facilities.
“This has gone through extra rounds of agency review,” Ellman said. “There is an inevitable tension between efficient use of the airspace and the need for security.”
She added that a proposal on the rule could be released soon.
Another major regulatory topic was the long-awaited FAA Beyond Visual Line of Sight rulemaking.
Ellman said the proposed rule contains promising elements but also raised concerns within the industry.
“There was a lot of good in there, but there were also things that could have taken us back,” she said. “We don’t want to be taking steps backward. This is a rule that should be taking us forward into the future.”
According to Ellman, the proposal is currently under review at the U.S. Department of Transportation before moving back to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for additional interagency review.
She noted that Sean Duffy, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, has indicated that the administration wants the rule finalized as soon as possible.
Werner added that public safety stakeholders continue to advocate for maintaining progress already made in drone integration, including efforts around aircraft conspicuity.
Data Sharing and Airspace Awareness
The discussion also highlighted the growing importance of airspace awareness as drone operations scale.
Panelists described increasing convergence between counter-UAS systems, drone traffic management platforms, and broader airspace integration efforts.
Forro noted that Part 146, a framework related to how drone operational data is shared and managed, may provide an important pathway for coordinating multiple systems.
She pointed to developments in the Dallas–Fort Worth region as an example where integration initiatives are being tested.
Jason Day emphasized that effective public safety operations ultimately depend on access to reliable data.
“At the end of the day, it all comes down to data sharing,” Day said. “You need to know what’s in the airspace to operate a public safety drone operation.”
As commercial drone activity grows, including large-scale delivery networks, integrating public safety operations will become increasingly complex.
“When there are hundreds or thousands of drone deliveries going on, how can public safety integrate into those operations?” Day said. “How do you do it without overwhelming everyone but getting down to the user level so that everyone has just what they need?”
Supply Chain Challenges and Domestic Manufacturing
The panel concluded with discussion of broader industry policy challenges, including recent action by the Federal Communications Commission limiting certain foreign-manufactured drones and components.
Ellman said the scope of the action surprised many stakeholders.
“There had been attention focused on Chinese drones,” she said, “but nobody had anticipated that every foreign drone and foreign drone component would be banned.”
The development has highlighted gaps in the U.S. drone supply chain.
“We have crashed right into the fact that we don’t have a domestic supply chain yet,” Ellman said.
She suggested that building a resilient domestic drone industry will require more than restrictions on foreign technology.
“From our perspective, we need carrots, not just sticks,” she said. “We need financing, regulatory clarity…what else can we do that creates demand on the supply side?”
Panelists agreed that continued collaboration between government, industry, and public safety agencies will be essential as the regulatory environment evolves and drone operations expand across the national airspace.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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