Army Building an Airport Just For Drones

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 11, 2014 @03:16AM from the first-part-of-the-plan dept.

schwit1 writes The Army's ever-growing use of unmanned aerial systems has gotten to the point where two of the most commonly used UAS are getting their own airport. The service's Corps of Engineers at Fort Worth, Texas, has awarded a $33 million contract to SGS to build a 150-acre unmanned aircraft launch and recovery complex at Fort Bliss for Grey Eagle and Shadow UAS. In related news, the FAA has just cleared 4 companies (Trimble Navigation Limited, VDOS Global, Clayco Inc. and Woolpert Inc.) to use drones commercially, for purposes such as site inspection and aerial surveys. (A lot of drones are already in use, of course, but the FAA doesn't like it.)

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Interesting by koan · 2014-12-11 04:53 · Score: 4, Interesting

A full on drone base ont heborder.
Grey Eagle
Maximum speed: 150 knots (170 mph; 280 km/h)
Endurance: 30 hours
Service ceiling: 29,000 ft (8,840 m)
Shadow UAS
Maximum speed: 127 mph; 204 km/h (110 kn)
Cruising speed: 81 mph; 130 km/h (70 kn)
Range: 68 mi (59 nmi; 109 km)
Endurance: 6 h/ 9 h Increased Endurance
Service ceiling: 15,000 ft (4,572 m) ELOS (Electronic Line Of Sight)
Border operations? I wonder what else.

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