jectives of the program for which the company seeks 
to participate, as determined by the Administrator. 
SEC. 6. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) to ensure United States competitiveness on 
the global stage, the Federal Government must work 
with the private sector to safely integrate the in-
creasing number of commercial applications for un-
manned aircraft systems; and 
(2) the sustained, efficient growth of the United 
States transportation system will require harnessing 
the safety and efficiency benefits of automated sys-
tems to relieve pressure on infrastructure and traffic 
management. 
(b) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States 
Government to be an active partner with the private sector 
in the development of technologies, capabilities, and oper-
ating procedures for the safe, efficient integration of un-
manned aircraft systems into the national airspace, while 
ensuring current and future air traffic management sys-
tems are able to manage unmanned aircraft systems. 
(c) UNMANNED
AIRCRAFT
SYSTEMS
OPERATION 
PROGRAM.—To advance the national policy described in 
subsection (b), the Administrator shall— 
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(1) research, develop, and test capabilities and 
concepts, including unmanned aircraft systems com-
munications and spectrum-related resources, for in-
tegrating unmanned aircraft systems into the na-
tional airspace system; 
(2) leverage NASA’s partnership with industry 
focused on the advancement of technologies for fu-
ture air traffic management systems for unmanned 
aircraft for low- and high-altitude operations; 
(3) leverage industry’s advancement of tech-
nologies for unmanned aircraft to inform regulatory 
and standards requirements for various sizes of civil 
unmanned aircraft systems; 
(4) consider the needs of United States indus-
try, especially as operations transition to more auto-
mated systems; and 
(5) continue to align its research and testing 
portfolio to inform unmanned aircraft system inte-
gration consistent with national safety and national 
security objectives. 
(d) COORDINATION WITH THE FEDERAL AVIATION 
ADMINISTRATION.—It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) NASA should continue to coordinate with 
the Federal Aviation Administration on research on 
air traffic management systems for unmanned air-
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craft systems and assist in the establishment of the 
pilot program required under section 2208 of the 
FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 
(49 U.S.C. 40101 note) and the subsequent imple-
mentation of unmanned aircraft system traffic man-
agement systems; and 
(2) unmanned aircraft system integration and 
unmanned traffic management research should con-
tinue to leverage the resources available through the 
unmanned aircraft system test ranges designated by 
the Federal Aviation Administration under section 
332 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 
2012 (Public Law 112–95; 49 U.S.C. 40101 note). 
SEC. 7. 21ST CENTURY AERONAUTICS RESEARCH CAPABILI-
TIES INITIATIVE. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall es-
tablish a 21st Century Aeronautics Capabilities Initiative, 
within the Construction and Environmental Compliance 
and Restoration Account, to ensure that NASA possesses 
the infrastructure capabilities and computational tools 
necessary to conduct proposed flight demonstration 
projects across the range of NASA aeronautics interests. 
As part of such Initiative, the Administrator shall carry 
out the following activities: 
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(1) Any investments necessary to upgrade and 
create facilities for civil and national security aero-
nautics research to support advancements in long- 
term foundational science and technology, advanced 
aircraft systems, air traffic management systems, 
fuel efficiency and electric propulsion technologies, 
system-wide safety assurance, autonomous aviation, 
and supersonic and hypersonic aircraft design and 
development. 
(2) Any measures supporting flight testing ac-
tivities, to include continuous refinement and devel-
opment of free-flight test techniques and methodolo-
gies, upgrades and improvements to real-time track-
ing and data acquisition, and any other measures re-
lated to aeronautics research support and mod-
ernization as the Administrator may consider appro-
priate to carry out the scientific study of the prob-
lems of flight, with a view to their practical solution. 
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 
to be appropriated to NASA $100,000,000 for each of fis-
cal years 2018 through 2022, to be derived from amounts 
otherwise authorized to be appropriated to NASA. 
(c) REPORT.— 
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(1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 120 
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ad-
ministrator shall transmit to Congress a report con-
taining a 5-year plan for the implementation of the 
21st Century Aeronautics Research Capabilities Ini-
tiative. 
(2) ELEMENTS.—The report required by this 
subsection shall include— 
(A) a description of proposed projects; 
(B) a description of how the projects align 
with the Aeronautics Strategic Implementation 
Plan or the roadmap developed by the joint 
technology office on hypersonics under section 
218(d) of the John Warner National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, and 
any updates to such Plan or roadmap; and 
(C) a timetable for carrying out activities 
and initiatives authorized under this section. 
Æ 
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