U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) aimed at removing section 373. This section would roll back safety measures established after a mid-air collision in January and would codify exceptions that permit military aircraft to operate in Washington, D.C. airspace without broadcasting their location using ADS-B Out technology.
The senators also proposed replacing section 373 with the bipartisan ROTOR Act. In a joint statement, they said: “Our colleagues on the Armed Services Committees are just plain wrong that their last-minute language will make things safer. It does the exact opposite, as the NTSB made clear yesterday,” adding, “The NDAA weakens current law by letting military aircraft use less effective technology than ADSB-Out when the military is already required by law to have ADSB on its aircraft. It also puts into federal statute authority for the military to waive transmission of ADSB-Out, which the military already has the authority to do—and it abused—leading to a key factor in the January 29th DCA crash.
“We owe it to the families to put into law actual safety improvements, not give the Department of Defense bigger loopholes to exploit,” their statement continued. “We have filed an amendment to do just that.”
Yesterday, Sens. Cantwell and Cruz joined aviation subcommittee leaders Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kans.) and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) in another statement: “Almost a year after 67 lives were lost when a military helicopter hit American Airlines flight 5342 over the Potomac River, the NDAA fails to make the skies safer. As drafted, the NDAA protects the status quo, allowing military aircraft to keep flying in DC airspace under different rules and with outdated transmission requirements. This comes as Pentagon data shows a spike in military aircraft accidents since 2020. The families of the victims deserve accountability. The NDAA should be stripped of this new loophole and instead include the ROTOR Act -- a bipartisan bill that closes the dangerous exemption that allows military aircraft to operate in domestic skies without communicating their position. We must act decisively to prevent future tragedies.”
The ROTOR Act was advanced out of committee on October 21, 2025 by Sens. Cantwell and Cruz. The legislation seeks to close gaps related to ADS-B Out exemptions for Department of Defense flights and increase accountability for such operations near major airports like Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). Under this act, training flights, proficiency flights, and flights involving federal officials below Cabinet rank would no longer be eligible for exemptions from transmitting their location.
