Why Syracuse and Upstate NY Are the Tomorrowland of the New Drone Universe

We at Modovolo have shamelessly promoted Syracuse and Upstate New York in a November 2024 article entitled, “Why Upstate NY is the center of the drone universe.”

Here, then, is the long-awaited sequel. It’s “The Empire Strikes Back” to “A New Hope,” “The Temple of Doom” to “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Top Gun II” to “Top Gun.”

And true to form, this article further shamelessly promotes our beloved city, but now Syracuse and Upstate New York are “Tomorrow Land” in the “new” drone universe.

Why the “new” drone universe? Well, this new drone universe’s creation is all about new proposed regulations released on Aug. 5, 2025, by the Federal Aviation Administration.

I admit that regulations are not the typical foundation of an exciting narrative. But bear with me. This is going somewhere.

A crowded airspace
The FAA has been working on regulations to integrate drones into the national airspace for years. Because the U.S. has the busiest and most complex airspace system in the world, this is not an easy task.

But you ask, why do we even need to integrate drones into the national airspace? Well, if all drones ever did were to take pictures of your house or perform roof inspections, you’re right. There’s no need.

But these new drone regulations aren’t about what drones are already doing today. They are all about what drones should be doing tomorrow. In Tomorrow Land.

And Tomorrow Land looks like a very cool place (not just at Disney).

The problem with Today Land
Take delivery logistics as an example. In Today Land, it means cargo vans for everything. But they’re big, add to traffic, and are mostly all diesel powered. That’s a lot of wasted energy and a lot of pollution.

The thing is, the vast majority of items delivered weigh less than 5 pounds — by some estimates, up to 86% of products that Amazon delivers, and most deliveries are 3 to 5 miles from distribution centers. And it just so happens that an all-electric drone can autonomously bring a 5-pound payload several miles.

In Tomorrow Land, drone-powered delivery systems will be far cheaper, far less polluting, and far faster than what we have in Today Land.

There are, however, a couple of problems.

First, most drones are loud. Obnoxiously loud. And annoying. Their “buzzing” is in the same frequency range as mosquitoes.

Second, getting a permit from the FAA for drone-powered deliveries has been, generally speaking, a very time-consuming, custom process with only a very small chance that the FAA would actually agree to allow it.

This way to Tomorrow Land
So how do we get to Tomorrow Land?

First, the new proposed FAA regulations will require noise limitations on drones. Second, they set a slew of standards and parameters. And, as long as those standards and parameters are met, then a permit happens. Fast and cheap.

And that means it’s possible for drone delivery companies to get a permit to operate their service.

The cool thing is that Syracuse is already in Tomorrow Land. Or, better put, Syracuse is the general contractor for Tomorrow Land.

You see, in order for those new proposed FAA regulations to work, there needs to be technology infrastructure.

There needs to be the ability to “detect and avoid” other flying objects (like airplanes). There needs to be the ability to create flight plans on defined routes. There needs to be the ability to test a drone to make sure it is safe.

And we’ve done all of this, Syracuse! We’ve already built that technology infrastructure.

NUAIR: NUAIR, based at Syracuse’s Hancock Airport, has developed an advanced technology platform that integrates all the systems needed to manage large-scale beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations across a region. This is a big deal. There are only a handful of other locations that have achieved this, and none to this scale and population coverage.

Ken Stewart, president & CEO of NUAIR, said that “The FAA’s approval validates NUAIR’s critical role in delivering the infrastructure essential for safe, scalable unmanned aircraft systems deployments.”

Ken Stewart of NUAIR
Ken Stewart stands in a conference room at NUAIR headquarters on Harrison Street, Syracuse. Stewart is president and CEO. NUAIR’s mission is to safely integrate uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace.Stan Linhorst
ResilienX: This local startup is headed by Andrew Carter and Ryan Pleskach, both of whom became experts in software, data and sensor technologies through their early careers at local companies like SRC.

“We saw that there was a critical need to ensure these systems to manage drone flight plans, detect and avoid, and other technologies were safe. That meant knowing whether or not sensors, communications technologies, and other critical infrastructure are actually working correctly. That’s our technology platform called FRAIHMWORK.”

Upstate Medical: Syracuse is one of the few cities in the country that have drone delivery operations already approved by the FAA for delivering medicines.

After starting its Air Upstate drone program over four years ago, Upstate Medical University quickly became considered a national leader in drone adoption, being the first-to-market in the U.S. to utilize drone deliveries in the healthcare industry. Air Upstate is a cutting-edge initiative aimed at improving the speed and efficiency of couriered deliveries in the hospital space to transport goods, such as medications and labs. Today, Upstate routinely utilizes drone delivery to a growing number of locations in and around the Syracuse area.

GeniusNY: Syracuse hosts the world’s largest business competition focused exclusively on uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) technologies. The grand prize is a $1 million investment and that has gotten a lot of attention across the drone industry. “We get applications from across the world. For the latest 2026 cohort, we had over 300 companies apply,” said Kara Jones, Director of GeniusNY.

Beyond the $1 million prize money, “We’ve done a lot of work to understand what is needed for our companies to be successful,” Jones said. “And there is now an amazing ecosystem of drone companies that know drone technologies.”

Aloft: Aloft is one such company. It specializes in airspace management, a crucial technology infrastructure for a drone delivery. Aloft received a $500,000 investment from GeniusNY in 2023.

Josh Ziering, co-founder of Aloft, said, “We learned a lot from the GeniusNY program and it gave us the roadmap to really grow our business in ways that we couldn’t have anticipated. The new proposed FAA regulations are going to accelerate our business dramatically.”

The Powerhouse: It’s not just startups leading this, either. We have a powerhouse of local, established technology companies, who already play a critical role in creating Tomorrow Land — AIS, ANDRO, SRC, Saab-Sensis and many others.

“It’s all about figuring out how to manage airspace at scale, and AIS has critical technologies for detecting and understanding electronic signals that make this possible,” said Charles Green, CEO and founder of AIS.

“We have some of the most advanced drone autonomy technologies in the market today. In order for drone delivery and other long-range drone capabilities to happen, a drone needs to be able to fly autonomously and safely even when communications have been lost with the flight controller,” explained Andy Drozd, CEO and founder of ANDRO.

We’re writing the rules
The FAA knows that we have amazing expertise and that we are key thought leaders. So not only is Syracuse the general contractor, but we’ve been the author, too. That’s right: Your neighbors are the ones writing those new proposed FAA regulations.

Syracuse and Upstate NY aren’t just participants in the drone revolution. With world-class infrastructure, pioneering companies and visionary leadership, Tomorrow Land has a new address — and it’s here.