The FAA says funding for the new fee system, combined with federal money, would shift the 40-year-old ground-based air traffic control system to a satellite-based, cockpit-to-cockpit system that is safer and more efficient.

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Yet as UAV technology improves they are set to become an even more important part of security and military operations -- part of a system that gathers and relays information to other drones, ground control, manned aircraft and satellites.

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Honeywell executives, who haven't previously discussed the project publicly, say the system uses onboard computers and navigation devices to automatically control aircraft movements on the ground.

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