S. 2503

ROTOR Act

Sponsor: Ted Cruz

21 cosponsors
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Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act or the ROTOR Act

This bill addresses aviation safety by increasing requirements for aircraft tracking and communication using Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology and expanding oversight.

As background, ADS-B for broadcasting (Out) and receiving (In) transmits information (e.g., location and weather information) between aircraft and air traffic control.

Under the bill, aircraft must generally operate with ADS-B In equipment to provide the aircraft with location information of other aircraft and traffic advisories. Current law does not require this equipment.

Current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations allow aircraft performing a sensitive government mission to be excepted from requirements for using ADS-B Out equipment. This bill limits which flights may be considered sensitive government missions (e.g., not training flights) and requires additional reporting and notifications for the exception.

The Government Accountability Office must review the use of the ADS-B Out exception and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Transportation must annually audit FAA oversight of operations that use the exception.

Further, the bill repeals a 2025 law that exempts certain military helicopters from the ADS-B Out requirements for the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.

The bill also requires

  • the OIG of the Army to audit the Army’s coordination with the FAA,
  • the FAA to establish an office to coordinate airspace usage of military aircraft and review the safety of flight operations and routes around airports, and
  • the FAA to enter into memoranda of understanding with military agencies for safety information sharing.

Text of the bill

Expand all
Sec. 8. FAA–DOD safety information sharing Added Nov 18, 2025

Where this section came from

Not in the first version (Introduced in Senate, Jul 29, 2025).

  1. Nov 18, 2025 · Reported to Senate Marked up by Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Oct 21, 2025 Reported by Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Nov 18, 2025 Committee members' individual votes aren't in our records.
  2. Dec 17, 2025 · Engrossed in Senate S.Amdt. 4070: In the nature of a substitute. Official page ›
What changed in the text

(a) MOU with the Department of the Army. Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretary of the Army to permit, as appropriate, the sharing of information from the Army’s Safety Management Information System with the FAA , as well as the sharing of information from the FAA’s Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing System, Operational Analysis Reporting System, Safety Trend Analytics Dashboard, Aviation Risk Identification and Assessment Program, Comprehensive Electronic Data Analysis and Reporting Tool, and Falcon tool with the Army, to facilitate communications and analysis of any applicable impacts to the safety and efficiency of civil aviation operations and to mitigate risk in the national airspace system.

… 5 unchanged passages …

What is a markup?

A markup is a committee meeting where members go through a bill and vote on changes before sending it to the full chamber.

(a) MOU with the Department of the Army. Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretary of the Army to permit, as appropriate, the sharing of information from the Army’s Safety Management Information System with the FAA, as well as the sharing of information from the FAA’s Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing System, Operational Analysis Reporting System, Safety Trend Analytics Dashboard, Aviation Risk Identification and Assessment Program, Comprehensive Electronic Data Analysis and Reporting Tool, and Falcon tool with the Army, to facilitate communications and analysis of any applicable impacts to the safety and efficiency of civil aviation operations and to mitigate risk in the national airspace system.

(b) Other DOD MOUs. Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the following military departments to permit, as appropriate, the sharing of information from applicable aviation safety information systems to facilitate communications and analysis of any applicable impacts to the safety and efficiency of civil aviation operations and to mitigate risk in the national airspace system:

(1) The Department of the Navy.

(2) The Department of the Air Force.

(3) The Coast Guard.

(c) Congressional notification. Not later than 7 days after the date on which the Administrator enters into any Memorandum of Understanding under subsection (a) or (b), the Administrator shall notify the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives.