US Expanding Long-Range Commercial Drone Testing Program

The US government is expanding a program for testing out drones in real-world scenarios, focusing on more advanced use cases involving larger unmanned systems, higher altitudes and longer distances. The Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration said Aug. 27 that they will double the size of the BEYOND program by adding up to eight new participants, to be selected at a future date. The program first launched in October 2020 and is centered heavily around complex flights beyond an operator’s direct line of sight. The expansion is part of a second phase of BEYOND, during which the FAA will focus on different use cases than in phase one. Instead of testing smaller drones delivering food or light packages to someone’s doorstep, the agency wants to examine flights with larger drones that could, for instance, move cargo to remote or rural areas, an FAA official told Bloomberg. The regulator is also going to test scenarios where drones are traveling greater distances or flying above 400 feet, which would be useful for measuring weather data, the official said. This next phase “will expand the partnerships and operations needed to address remaining challenges in beyond visual line of sight operations, public safety missions, on-airport operations and other complex airspace environments,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a news release shared with Bloomberg. As with phase one, the testing will help inform policymaking for the entire industry, the FAA official added. Phase one participants logged more than 70,000 flights and included the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the city of Reno, Nevada and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The original eight will continue to be involved in the program. The FAA uses the BEYOND program to collect data on real-world usage — from delivering packages to supporting police departments and inspecting pipelines and power lines. It also gathers feedback from local communities to address concerns with noise, privacy and other issues. The FAA said the first phase helped the agency write a forthcoming rule that will end years of case-by-case federal approvals for long-range drone flights. Currently, commercial drone operators must either have visual observers monitoring flights or get a waiver from the regulator. Major drone companies, including Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Air and Alphabet Inc.’s Wing, have said the waiver-based system stifles industry growth. The FAA last year proposed regulations that would eliminate that system and replace it with a common set of standards that’s more predictable for operators. The agency hasn’t yet finalized the rule. Photo: A drone delivers a package at a customer’s home in Christiansburg, Virginia. Photographer: Logan Cyrus/Bloomberg Copyright 2026 Bloomberg. Topics USA Commercial Lines Business Insurance Drones