The Defense Innovation Unit is making changes to the Blue UAS initiative by adopting a two-tiered system that seeks to speed up the development and deployment of unmanned aircraft systems while allowing the number of cleared drones to scale.
“DIU is evolving Blue UAS to match the pace of change and growing variety and scale of capabilities that the commercial sector brings to unmanned systems, leveraging key authorities and budget to put the best NDAA compliant platforms in the hands of our warfighter,” DIU Director Doug Beck said in a statement published Friday.
“Making updates to Blue UAS is critical in continuing to evolve our military and our processes to prepare for tomorrow’s fight – and to ensure these programs support the accelerated development and scaling of the defense innovation base in delivering the capabilities we need,” Beck added.
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Advancing Third-Party Assessments
One of the changes to Blue UAS is enabling drone manufacturers to fund and use third-party assessments for National Defense Authorization Act compliance to accelerate the inclusion of their offerings in the Blue UAS Cleared List. DIU will select a number of entities that will perform UAS assessments and generate reports that enable the agency to certify compliant systems for inclusion in the list.
DIU will simplify the exception to policy process and provide data that will be used by services for potential authority to operate, or ATO, as part of a push to broaden the number of drones to be available for operator testing. The agency plans to issue a solicitation in June for companies interested in performing third-party assessments.
Drone developers that have met NDAA and cybersecurity requirements through DOD sponsorship or competitive selection and have secured a DIU-approved ATO will now be under Blue UAS Select. Entities selected to be part of the Blue List based on the 2024 assessment and selection will shift to Blue UAS Select.
Once the ATO expires, all drones will need to undergo a service-sponsored assessment or a competitive process to retain the ATO, which is usually valid for two years.
What Is Blue UAS?
The Blue UAS program is a holistic and continuous approach that rapidly vets and scales commercial UAS technology for the department. DOD-approved drones provide options for the evolving needs of government users.
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