The U.S. Senate on Dec. 17 passed bipartisan legislation that requires military aircraft to transmit precise location information.
The Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform (ROTOR) Act, S. 2503, requires all aircraft, civil and military, to equip and receive ADS-B broadcasting signals.
The Federal Aviation Administration would be directed to comprehensively evaluate the safety of airspaces around airports nationwide and to improve the sharing of aviation safety information between the agency and the military.
The bill also removes section 373(a) from the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act to eliminate a loophole that allows military helicopters to operate in airspace over Washington, D.C., without broadcasting their location.
The bill is in response to the Jan. 29 midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport of American Airlines Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk military helicopter. Sixty-seven people died, and an investigation discovered safety gaps.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, and Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced the bill in July.
Cruz, Senate Commerce Committee chairman, and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), committee ranking member, reached a bipartisan compromise in October and advanced the bill unanimously out of the committee.
“This bill will be a fitting way to honor the lives of those lost nearly one year ago over the Potomac River,” Cruz said. “The goal of the victims’ families is to ensure no one else endures a similar avoidable, completely unnecessary, tragedy. The ROTOR Act will save lives.”
Sean Parnell, Secretary of War for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor, said: “The department supports this legislation and appreciates the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s continued partnership and dialogue to account for critical national security operations. The department looks forward to continuing the productive dialogue with the committee to finalize the bill, and working towards its ultimate passage.”
The bill has the support of the families of Flight 5342.