WASHINGTON, Feb 23 - The Pentagon has notified lawmakers that it views an aviation safety bill scheduled for House consideration later on Monday as posing material concerns for national defense. In formal communications, defense officials said the measure could produce "significant unresolved budgetary burdens and operational security risks affecting national defense activities."
The legislation in question is the ROTOR Act, which the U.S. Senate approved unanimously in December. Under the bill's provisions, aircraft operators would be required to equip their fleets with automatic-dependent-surveillance-broadcast systems, commonly referred to as ADS-B, by the end of 2031.
Supporters of the ROTOR Act have presented the mandate as a direct response to a deadly midair collision in January 2025 involving an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, an accident that resulted in 67 fatalities. The bill is intended to address safety gaps implicated in that incident by expanding ADS-B coverage across civil and certain other aircraft.
Defense officials, however, cautioned that the measure as written could create unresolved budgetary pressures and introduce operational security considerations for defense activities that rely on aviation operations. The Pentagon's assessment did not detail specific cost figures or operational scenarios in the notice cited, but framed the issues as significant and unresolved.
As the House prepared to take up the ROTOR Act, the contrast between the bill's safety objective and the Pentagon's cautions highlights a policy tension: a legislative effort to enhance aviation safety on the one hand, and concerns about fiscal and operational implications for defense programs on the other.
Key takeaways and considerations are summarized below, reflecting the elements noted by defense officials and the text of the legislation.