FAA selects Syracuse airport, four others to test, evaluate drone-mitigation technology

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has chosen Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) and four others for the FAA’s UAS detection and mitigation research program.

UAS is short for unmanned aircraft systems, or what are commonly referred to as drones.

Specifically, the FAA will evaluate technologies and systems that could “detect and mitigate potential safety risks posed by unmanned aircraft,” the office of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) said in a news release.

“The FAA’s selection of Hancock International Airport to do this important work further solidifies Central New York’s decade-long leadership in helping the federal government integrate UAS into the national airspace which boosts local jobs and the regional economy,” Schumer said. “Safely integrating UAS into the national airspace has enormous economic and national security potential for the United States. This FAA selection proves that there is no better place in the country to harness that potential than right here in Central New York.”

In his October letter of support for Hancock’s application, Schumer emphasized that the airport would be a “unique” location for hosting the FAA’s program because it would share a location with the New York Air National Guard’s 174th Attack Wing. That would allow “for the ability to integrate military and civilian operations on the same runways and airspace and test out scenarios in a truly mixed environment,” Schumer’s office said.

Schumer also explained that the airport’s selection will “reinforce Central New York as an epicenter” for UAS research in the U.S., with the Syracuse airport joining Rome Lab, the UAS test site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, and NUAIR as “global leaders” in UAS research and development.