States Put Privacy Concern Aside To Court Drone-Related Jobs

Priorities

In the balancing act over state concerns about drone surveillance and the opportunity for drone-related jobs, economic interests appear to be winning out.

Lured by the possibility of winning one of six Federal Aviation Administration test sites to integrate drones into the national airspace and the aerospace jobs that come with it, at least 16 states presented their credentials to the drone industry and the federal government at the recent Association for Unmanned Aerial Systems International (AUVSI) conference in Washington, D.C.

The jobs created around an FAA test site could be a boon for states—Utah, for instance, estimates a test site would bring at least 23,000 new jobs. Nationally, at least 70,000 jobs will be created in the first three years of drone integration to the national airspace, according to AUVSI.