Beyond “BVLOS Is Necessary”: SAFE Brief Defines What a Workable Rule Must Deliver

New policy brief reframes BVLOS as infrastructure policy, industrial policy, and digital coordination policy, not just an aviation update.

SAFE’s Coalition for Reimagined Mobility (ReMo) will release its new policy brief, From Waivers to Scale: How BVLOS Modernizes America’s Low-Altitude Infrastructure, during a free webinar tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 17) at 1:00 PM ET. Register for the webinar here.

Most stakeholders in the commercial drone industry agree on one point: BVLOS is necessary for scale. That debate is largely settled.

What ReMo’s new brief adds is not another argument that BVLOS matters. Instead, it defines what a workable BVLOS framework must actually deliver, and what happens economically and strategically if it does not.

From aviation rule to national capability

The brief reframes BVLOS in three important ways.

First, it positions BVLOS as national infrastructure policy. The low-altitude airspace is treated not as a niche sandbox for delivery pilots, but as a strategic layer of economic and security capacity. In that framing, the question is no longer whether drones can fly farther. It becomes whether the United States can manage inspection, emergency response, agriculture, and logistics at corridor scale.

Second, the brief draws a sharper line between “permission” and “predictability.” Waivers technically allow BVLOS operations today. But waivers do not create financeable business models. The report argues that repeatable, risk-tiered, performance-based rules are what allow utilities, health systems, delivery operators, and public agencies to design standardized programs instead of one-off pilots.

Third, it links BVLOS modernization directly to domestic industrial capacity. In an environment shaped by trusted sourcing requirements and supply chain scrutiny, regulatory certainty becomes a demand signal. Without it, domestic manufacturers struggle to justify scaling production. With it, corridor-scale inspections and hub-and-spoke logistics become forecastable markets.

The brief’s central contribution is clarity: scale is not just about aircraft capability. It is about regulatory structure, interoperability, and demand certainty.

What “workable” really means

Rather than arguing in broad terms, the paper specifies what policymakers should prioritize.

It calls for finalizing Parts 108 and 146 in a risk-tiered, performance-based structure that reduces reliance on bespoke waivers while avoiding unnecessary compliance burdens. In other words, replace case-by-case permissions with a durable framework that different operators can rely on.

It also elevates interoperability as a condition of scale. The brief emphasizes that intent sharing, deconfliction, and conformance monitoring should not become fragmented “walled gardens.” Instead, the digital coordination layer should support multiple operators in shared low-altitude airspace, with implementation remaining industry-led but standardized enough to function nationally.

This is where the brief moves beyond familiar BVLOS talking points. It treats Part 146 not as a technical footnote, but as the digital backbone that prevents scale from overwhelming coordination capacity.

Evidence from the field

The paper grounds its recommendations in operational examples that stakeholders in the commercial drone industry recognize.

In utilities, it contrasts helicopter inspection costs of roughly $1,200–$1,500 per mile with drone-based inspection costs closer to $200 per mile. Early adopters report substantial cost reductions and improvements in service reliability when inspections become higher cadence and data-rich. The point is not simply cost savings. It is that predictable BVLOS authority allows structured, enterprise-level programs rather than experimental deployments.

In public safety, the brief highlights the Drone as First Responder model. It cites the Chula Vista Police Department’s more than 18,000 drone-assisted calls and faster arrival times compared to patrol officers. The takeaway is that DFR becomes core infrastructure when coverage expands beyond strict line-of-sight constraints and operates under standardized rules.

In agriculture and medical logistics, the brief emphasizes that BVLOS unlocks terrain, geography, and time-critical corridors that visual-line-of-sight operations cannot cover efficiently. But it also notes that scaling requires alignment around training, insurance, liability, data handling, and governance.

The through-line is operational realism. The report does not claim drones replace helicopters, patrol cars, or ground transport wholesale. Instead, it argues that BVLOS allows a shift from isolated proof points to repeatable programs with measurable impact.

The clear policy ask

The brief closes with a concise set of recommendations, quoted directly:

“Finalize Parts 108 and 146 in a Workable Form, on a Predictable Timeline. Press for a risk-tiered, performance-based BVLOS framework that reduces reliance on bespoke waivers without imposing unnecessary compliance burden.
Drive Interoperability as a Condition of Scale. Use federal standards, procurement, and grant requirements to prevent ‘walled gardens’ by ensuring BVLOS operators, public safety, and participating agencies can share intent, deconflict, and verify conformance keeping implementation industry-led and competitive while standardizing the interoperability layer for nationwide operations.

Anchor a Trusted Domestic Drone Industrial Base. Pair BVLOS regulatory certainty with federal buying power and focused incentives to scale manufacturing and supply chains of U.S. and allied drones and critical components, translating demand into domestic production capacity and resilience.”

In short, the brief does not argue that BVLOS is necessary. That assumption is already baked in. It argues that how BVLOS is finalized will determine whether the United States builds corridor-scale infrastructure, scalable public-safety systems, and a durable industrial base, or remains in a waiver-dependent holding pattern.

Webinar details

The webinar will feature Liz Forro (Commercial Drone Alliance), Lukas Koch (Kelly Hills Unmanned Systems and Heinen Brothers Agra Services), Dominic Mathew (SAFE ReMo), and Kevin Myer (LifeGift). It will be moderated by Miriam McNabb, Editor of DRONELIFE.

For those tracking not just whether BVLOS happens, but whether it happens in a way that truly unlocks scale, tomorrow’s discussion will focus on that distinction.

Register for the webinar (Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1:00 PM ET).

Read more:

• Commercial Drone Alliance BVLOS Summit Highlights Key Issues for Part 108 Rulemaking
• Two Days Left: FAA Reopens BVLOS Comments on Some of the Hardest Airspace Questions
• Matt Sloane Read the Entire FAA Part 108 NPRM So You Don’t Have To—Here’s What Actually Matters