Traffic Management Solution for JADC5

The rapid proliferation of drones—across both civilian and military domains—has created an urgent and significant challenge for the Air Force: the need for updated and innovative air traffic management systems. Traditional air traffic control (ATC) frameworks, designed for a relatively small number of manned aircraft, are ill-equipped to handle the exponential growth in unmanned aerial systems (UAS), which are expected to number in the millions and operate at frequencies and volumes far exceeding current aviation traffic. Without modernized systems, the risk of airspace congestion, operational conflicts, and safety incidents rises sharply, threatening both mission effectiveness and overall airspace security. The Air Force’s operational requirements—ranging from security and surveillance to logistics and emergency response—demand real-time, automated coordination and deconfliction tools that can seamlessly integrate drones alongside manned aircraft. Innovative solutions like Universal Traffic Management (UTM) platforms, are critical for providing three-dimensional situational awareness, automating flight approvals, and reducing the manual burden on controllers. As adversaries advance their own drone integration and airspace control capabilities, the imperative for the Air Force to rapidly modernize its air traffic management infrastructure is not just a matter of efficiency, but of maintaining operational superiority and national security. Airspace Experience Technologies, Inc. (ASX) has already demonstrated aerial expertise with their development of the Sigma 6 eVTOL, and is developing their unique and novel AeroNet UTM to bring about new digital infrastructure to integrate and actively manage  crewed and uncrewed  air and ground vehicle operations to avoid conflicts and increase safety. Leveraging Connected-Intelligent Transportation Systems (C-ITS) architectures developed for surface transportation, ASX has deployed a sample of the AeroNet System for  the Michigan Department of Transportation (MI DOT) to authenticate and coordinate UAS, piloted aircraft and ground vehicles operations for high density, high velocity cargo logistics scenarios.