Government will require drone purchases to be registered

The initiative for the registration of drones comes following a number of incidents that involved drones flying too close to a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter while an ongoing investigation.

A plan for registering drones is expected to be announced soon, according to NBC News.

The department aims to convene a task force next week to figure out the specifics of the policy, including which drones will be included, how users will register the devices, and whether the policy will apply to devices that have already been sold, the people said.

The growth in sightings, and forecasts for more than a million USA drone sales next year, have raised concerns about UAS colliding with commercial aircraft during landing or take-off, or being used as a weapon in a deliberate attack. While the FAA has issued almost 1,900 approvals to companies for commercial-drone flights in the US, industry officials estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of recreational drones in the country.

The FAA deputy administrator Michael Whitaker told a House panel last week that the agency was considering setting up a registry with manufacturers to keep track of drone owners, commercial and recreational. Encounters with drones can also cause pilots to be distracted from other critical tasks.

Final drone regulations are now expected early in 2016.

Aside from worries over drones entering restricted airspace, officials have also highlighted the potential danger of modified consumer drones - like one in Connecticut that had a handgun mounted to it.