United States Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy has unveiled the country’s new Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Strategy.
The program was announced on December 17, 2025, a date likely not chosen at random since it coincides with the anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903.
The strategy outlines six key pillars (Airspace, Infrastructure, Security, Community Planning and Engagement, Workforce, and Automation) to develop the advance air mobility ecosystem in the US and issues 40 recommendations aimed at setting the basis of future policies in this field.
These recommendations have been addressed to several US government departments and agencies, including the Department of Transportation (DoT), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Homeland Security, and NASA, which will all play a role in the rollout of advanced air mobility in the country.
These recommendations cover areas such as the repurposing of under-used infrastructure, the updating of air traffic control systems and security protocols, and the continued federal support for concepts and technologies which are still at the premarket stage.
Alongside the Advanced Air Mobility National Strategy, the US Department of Transportation has also published a comprehensive plan, which lays out the actions necessary for the implementation of this vision.
The plan is structured in four partly overlapping, strategic phases, referred to as “LIFT”, an acronym which stands for the following:
- Leverage Existing Programs to Support Innovation and Begin Operations
- Initiate Engagement with Partners, Research and Development, and Smart Planning
- Forge New Policy and Models Responsive to Public Needs
- Transform the Aviation Ecosystem
The overarching goal of the new initiative is to create a framework for inter-agency collaboration in order to accelerate the development and rollout of novel air mobility concepts and secure US leadership in aviation over the course of the next 100 years.
The announcement was met with a warm welcomed from the industry, with the top managers of several prominent advanced air mobility and aviation technology firms, such as Archer, Electra, BETA Technologies, Wisk and Reliable Robotics, present when the announcement was made in Washington DC.
Industry bodies such as the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) also expressed their satisfaction and support for the new initiative.