FCC schedules 19 November vote on 450 MHz drone data links, 24 GHz drone-detection radar and 800 MHz air-ground rules

TLDR

• Chairman Carr announced a 19 November FCC vote on two spectrum orders affecting drones, counter-drone radar and in-flight internet.¹²
• The omnibus order would open 450 MHz to drone data links and 24 GHz to drone-detection radar.¹²
• Draft orders were due online on 29 October, the day of the separate 800 MHz Cellular vote.¹²

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced on 28 October that the commission will consider final rules at its 19 November open meeting in two orders, which the FCC bills as part of its drone dominance agenda.¹ The first, an omnibus decision, covers three bands.¹ In the 450 MHz band it would replace site-based general aviation air-ground rules, which now limit service to voice at high altitude, with a nationwide licensing system for safety-related data links to crewed and uncrewed aircraft.¹ In the 24.45 to 24.65 GHz band it would let ground-based radar detect and track unauthorised or dangerous drones near airports, borders, prisons, stadiums and critical infrastructure, provided it avoids interfering with priority users.¹ In the 800 MHz air-ground band it would update rules for in-flight broadband while retaining protections for public safety communications.¹ The second order would extend non-geostationary satellite earth stations in motion across 28.35 to 28.6 GHz, which the FCC says would serve ships, planes, drones, blimps and cars.¹

DroneXL traces the omnibus order to a January 2025 FCC proposal (WT Docket 24-629) and says the draft orders had not been published when it wrote.² Its account of the 24 GHz rule is that it answers an October 2018 petition from Echodyne, with drone-detection radar operating in the band on waivers since 2019.² On 450 MHz, it says the FCC calls AURA Network Systems the band's only incumbent licensee and that the proposal would convert AURA's licences into one nationwide control-link licence without an auction, with build-out conditions that DroneXL describes in detail.² For the 800 MHz air-ground band, it says Gogo Business Aviation has been the only licensee since 2013 and that the proposal would measure transmitter power by average rather than peak.² These details come from the 2025 proposal as described by DroneXL, so the final text may differ.

Why it matters: if adopted, the vote would replace waiver-based and site-by-site arrangements with permanent rules for drone control links and drone-detection radar, but final terms depend on draft orders not yet public when the vote was announced.¹²