American Drone Dominance Debuts: Key Takeaways from Today’s Part 108 Preview

Part 108 adds a new layer for routine BVLOS and heavier drones—Part 107 remains the foundation for all commercial pilots.

“We are going to unleash American drone dominance.” Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy opened the press conference with that promise and unveiled the FAA’s 731-page Part 108 proposal, a comprehensive rule designed to replace the current patchwork of beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) waivers with a permanent national framework.

“On the consumer drone market, China controls ninety percent of this market … we’re turning over our skies to one of our main adversaries. That’s going to happen no longer.” Duffy said, placing the rule firmly in the realm of national security as much as aviation policy. “We’ve had a bureaucracy in place that makes it incredibly charged and incredibly difficult for innovators to actually innovate.”

Today’s press conference didn’t reference replacing popular Chinese-made drones like DJI or Autel. Secretary Duffy, FAA Administrator Bedford, Lisa Ellman and Heather Lee focused entirely on “how” BVLOS flights will work—who needs a permit or certificate, what safety gear goes on the aircraft, and how we protect the public. The 731-page draft itself is equally silent: a search for “DJI,” “Autel,” or “consumer” returned no matches in the NPRM, which sticks to operational rules without ever weighing in on the hardware ecosystem .

That omission matters in real terms: tens of thousands of U.S. jobs rely on service centers, training schools and integrators built around today’s prosumer drones. If policymakers decide to curb foreign OEMs, it won’t happen through Part 108—it will take a separate rule-making or an act of Congress to redraw those supply-chain lines.

Standing beside him, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford underscored the safety imperative. “We’ve got a little bit of the Wild West out there right now,” he said, pointing to last summer’s incident when a hobby drone grounded airtankers fighting a wildfire. Under Part 108, every BVLOS mission is first classified by weight and then by the five-tier “ground risk” grid drawn from Oak Ridge National Laboratory data. Drones fifty-five pounds or less that remain within visual line-of-sight (VLOS) continue under Part 107 with no additional paperwork—“pilots who choose to conduct UAS operations under 14 CFR Part 107” are expressly exempt. The moment that same aircraft needs routine BVLOS or any paid delivery leg, it must operate under an operating permit, which caps the combined weight at fifty-five pounds, limits flights to Category Three density, allows up to one hundred active aircraft, and expires after twenty-four months.

Heavier frames or denser routes climb to an operating certificate, which raises the delivery ceiling to one-hundred-ten pounds in downtown corridors and one-thousand-three-hundred-twenty pounds in rural inspection zones. Certificates require a Safety-Management System, a live feed to an Automated Data-Service Provider, and start with a one-aircraft-to-one-coordinator staffing baseline—ratios above that need specific FAA approval. Every BVLOS drone must broadcast a new “BVLOS-status” flag in its Remote ID message, carry detect-and-avoid sensors, and have supervisors and coordinators pass TSA fingerprint-based threat assessments. Bedford noted the FAA already operates seven drone test sites, with two more under review, to feed real-world data into Part 108’s architecture.

When asked about securing large outdoor events in a world where drones have become “tools of war in Ukraine,” Bedford answered, “We will cordon off airspace, geo-tag airspace, so that’s restricted use where we don’t want drones flying. The regulation will deal with that as well. We have partners in Homeland Security and TSA … bad actors could use drones in a bad way, and government is focused on getting the technology right and the security right so they go hand-in-glove.” Duffy added, “It’s very dangerous to deploy someone else’s commercial technology into our airspace, and the data that could be gleaned from that is a national-security threat. We want this to be American technology, American innovation.”

The NPRM amends § 107.1(b)(5) to say that existing BVLOS waivers stay valid only until Part 108’s effective date. After that, the waiver pipeline closes; every beyond-sight flight must move onto a Part 108 permit or certificate. In other words, the day the new rule goes live is also the day your old waiver stops being your ticket to fly.

Lisa Ellman of the Commercial Drone Alliance hailed the NPRM as “a long-awaited milestone … our collective work is just beginning; we have a sixty-day sprint to comment.” Heather Lee of AUVSI called it “a breathtaking moment—finally, a clear, scalable regulatory path for advanced drone operations.” Helicopter operators and the Air Line Pilots Association said they were still parsing the 731 pages before commenting.

Duffy painted the consumer upside: “You may change the way you get your Amazon package. You may get a Starbucks cup of coffee from a drone. Take some delivery trucks off the road—less fuel burn, less congestion.” Bedford quantified it: “It’s six, seven percent of GDP.” The FAA’s economic appendix uses that same figure to describe the slice of logistics, inspection and emergency-response work unlocked by BVLOS. Package delivery exits Part 107; every compensated flight must follow a permit or certificate once Part 108 is final.

The rule even accommodates hobbyists seeking to go beyond sight: a recreational BVLOS permit in § 108.475—limited to one aircraft, a ten-nautical-mile radius, Category Three density and fifty-five pounds—“lets a model flyer grow without masquerading as commercial,” Bedford said.

“I think communities have to have a say in whether they want drone use in their communities.”

Beyond the headline tiers, the draft spells out the day-to-day homework every BVLOS operator must do. Each permit or certificate application has to include a ConOps map that draws the exact box you’ll fly in, marks take-off and landing spots, and even estimates your busiest day’s flight count (§ 108.440 g). Once approved, you don’t file per-flight plans, but you do log every sortie, maintenance action, unplanned landing, communications loss, or damage over $500, and you report those records to the FAA (§§ 108.720 – .740). Pilots must pull the latest NOTAMs and airspace restrictions before launch (§ 108.410 a), and anyone who wants to run a true multi-drone “swarm” still needs a separate case-by-case sign-off (§ 108.455 b). Permit holders take on extra cybersecurity and physical-security duties through a written security program (§ 108.565 g), though the rule lets an operator act as its own Automated Data-Service Provider if it can meet the vetting standard (§ 108.190 d). Think of it as the paperwork, record-keeping, and systems glue that lets the shiny BVLOS pieces stick together once the flight is more than a demo.

Bedford confirmed the notice “will publish in the Federal Register in the next few days,” launching a sixty-day comment period. Under Executive Order 14307 the FAA then has 240 days to adopt the final rule. Once Part 108 takes effect, BVLOS waivers vanish from Part 107.

Pilots still need their remote-pilot certificate—most hold a Part 107 license or a Part 61 certificate with an RPA rating—to serve as PIC under any UAS rule. Part 108 does not replace Part 107; it adds a permit-or-certificate layer when you cross its thresholds. For example, an Amazon Air operator flying a sub-55-lb drone on routine BVLOS delivery would keep their Part 107 credential and secure a Part 108 operating permit (≤ 55 lb, Cat 3, ≤ 100 aircraft, 24-month term). A business running drones over 55 lb or in denser urban airspace would likewise retain its Part 107 or Part 61 remote-pilot certificate, then obtain a Part 108 operating certificate (55–110 lb for delivery, up to 1,320 lb for specialized missions; SMS; ADSP link; 1:1 staffing). If you stay within visual line of sight and under 55 lb, you continue under Part 107 alone (§ 108.1(b)). Once the NPRM hits the Federal Register in the next few days—opening a 60-day comment window under EO 14307’s 240-day final-rule clock—only permit- or provider-holders may fly BVLOS. Pilots who keep it light and close will fly exactly as they do today; everyone else now knows exactly what paperwork, performance standards, and security checks stand between them and the beyond-horizon sky.

While the FAA cites the UAS BVLOS Aviation Rule-making Committee (ARC) as a foundational influence on Part 108, one of the ARC’s key proposals is missing: EVLOS, or Extended Visual Line of Sight operations. Defined in the ARC report as flights within 3 statute miles using trained observers to extend situational awareness, EVLOS was designed to be a middle ground between traditional VLOS and fully autonomous BVLOS flight. Many in the drone industry, including Vic Moss of the Drone Service Providers Alliance, expected this operational tier to be included in the draft rule. It wasn’t. “I said there’s no way this NPRM does not include something along those lines. I was wrong. Dead wrong,” Moss wrote following the publication of the NPRM. For operators relying on EVLOS frameworks to scale infrastructure inspection, mapping, and emergency response missions, the absence of any reference to 3SM thresholds or visual observers is not just an oversight—it’s a potential barrier to access. Pilots and industry stakeholders have until early October to submit formal comments via the Federal Register. Moss and others are urging the community to review the rule carefully and raise this omission as part of their public feedback.

“EVLOS is defined in the ARC report as under 3SM. I said there is no way this NPRM does not include something along those lines. I was wrong. Dead wrong.”
— Vic Moss, Aug. 6, 2025

You can read the FAA’s Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations here.

This article has been updated to reflect new information on August 6, 2025.

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