Washington (AFP)

American regulators proposed Thursday to force drone owners to equip their devices with electronic license plates to better guarantee the safety of airspace.

The American Civil Aviation Authority (FAA) and other federal agencies thus intend to more easily identify possible threats and act on them.

In particular, they want to be able to prevent smuggling activities, the delivery of illegal drugs or dangerous substances, espionage or invasion of privacy.

The proposal, which concerns all private drones weighing at least 250 grams, is in the evaluation phase for a period of 60 days before the rule is adopted.

Nearly 1.5 million drones and 160,000 remote pilots have already been declared to the FAA.

Several tech giants like Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and Amazon, as well as many startups, use drones to deliver food, medicine, and other products.

DJI, a large Chinese manufacturer of drones, welcomed the American decision, believing that remote identification technologies would allow more complex uses of the devices.

© 2019 AFP