It may be years before unmanned aircraft are common in the sky, but lobbyists for the industry that develops and manufactures the drones are already buzzing around Capitol Hill.
"This is one of the few areas where the government is still spending money and investing," says Alex Bronstein-Moffly, an analyst at First Street Research, which collects lobbying data.
Lobbyists are pushing on legislation, regulations and appropriations, Bronstein-Moffly says. "This is the trifecta of lobbying."
Mention drones and most people conjure up missile-firing Predators hovering high above Yemen in search of al Qaeda terrorists. Yet even as the Obama administration defends its use of the drones, the future of unmanned aircraft lies in peaceful applications here at home.
The Association For Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), an industry trade group, has said once drones are allowed to fly in U.S. airspace, "the civil market has the potential to eclipse the defense market."
That day is coming. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill, passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in February, ordered the agency to safely allow unmanned aircraft to fly in U.S. commercial airspace by 2015. The FAA recently issued streamlined licensing rules for drones for police and other public safety agencies and the Department of Homeland Security is working to speed their introduction. The FAA is expected to finalize a new rule next year for small drones weighing less than 55 lb.
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