Zero Trust UAS Group
The Zero Trust UAS Group (ZTUG), comprised of U.S. government researchers, is dedicated to ensuring that unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) deployed by federal agencies—including the DoD and DHS—adhere to rigorous security, resilience, and management standards for mission-critical operations. The proposed Zero Trust UAS Architecture conforms to the NIST Zero Trust Architecture, DoD Zero Trust Reference Architecture, DHS/CISA UAS guidance, and NASA/FAA UAS Traffic Management (UTM) requirements and supports FY-2026 UAS investment priorities. Focus areas include:
1. Hardware and Software Integrity: This area addresses the components of the UAS or Drone are free from defects and malware.
2. Secure Communication: Communication between the UAS/Drone and its Ground Control System (GCS), as well as defining a migration path to Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC).
3. Spectrum Management: The radio frequency (RF) spectrum used for UAS communication, which can include unlicensed, licensed or shared spectrum, is an important area of focus along with the wireless technology used.
4. Secure API Support: The end-to-end UAS connections are considered here along with individual system components. Necessary security and resilient properties for mission critical UAS systems based on NIST’s Zero Trust Tenets and DoD’ Zero Trust Pillars are specified.
5. Traffic Management: Compliance with FAA and NASA’s UAS Traffic Management (UTM) framework for safe UAS/drone operation in the US airspace is addressed in this area.