Submitted to the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Aviation.

Dear Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen:

Thank you for your bipartisan leadership and the significant efforts of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to develop the The Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency (ALERT) Act of 2026. Reliable Robotics is proud to provide our support for this legislation which will significantly enhance United States aviation safety. The detailed manner in which this bill responds to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) findings from the tragic 2025 midair collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a UH-60 Army Black Hawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is noteworthy, and it deserves full consideration by the House and Senate.

Reliable Robotics was founded in 2017 to develop and bring to market aviation safety-enhancing technologies, including auto-taxi, auto-takeoff, and auto-land as well as high-integrity navigation and aircraft autonomy. These technologies will prevent the most common causes of fatal aviation accidents and save lives. Our company firmly believes that completing the development and standardization of the Airborne Collision Avoidance System X (ACAS X) will prevent future mid-air collisions. Members of the Reliable team are honored to serve in leadership roles on Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) actively advancing ACAS X and appreciate the significant focus on this technology in the ALERT Act.

The NTSB identified ACAS X, including variants that enhance safety on approach to landing and a rotorcraft-specific variant as crucial technologies to prevent future mid-air collisions. However, existing FAA regulations do not require this technology, and the agency has not completed the detailed work necessary to update existing Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System II (TCAS) mandates to reflect advances in technology. The ALERT Act comprehensively addresses these issues, and provides a detailed plan for equipping covered aircraft and helicopters with ACAS X. Without this level of focus, and specific timelines for ACAS X equipage, it is possible the implementation of NTSB findings from the DCA tragedy could be delayed, or overlooked.

The FAA has been funding research and development work on ACAS X since 2008, and significant progress has been made thanks to these efforts. This has enabled SDOs to create many of the consensus technical standards that are needed to design and certify ACAS X hardware and software. However, without a plan and timelines to equip legacy and newly manufactured aircraft with this technology, work at the FAA to adopt the standards can be delayed due to limited resources and competing priorities. This means that avionics manufacturers who develop ACAS X processors and related equipment do not have the regulatory certainty to make investments and complete product development. The path provided by the ALERT Act in Sections 101-103 will address these challenges head on and the legislation should be fully considered by Congress.

Thank you for the significant bipartisan efforts to enhance aviation safety through the ALERT Act. We look forward to this legislation rapidly moving towards final passage.