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Sept 30/08: New Mexico State University of Las Cruces, NM received a cost reimbursement no fee contract for a maximum of $9.95 million. This contract will establish Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Program for UAS research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E), including operations in the USA’s National Airspace System (NAS). At this time $2.1 million has been obligated. AAC/PKET at Eglin AFB, FL is managing this contract (FA9201-08-D-0093, Orders 0001, 0002, and 0003).
The popular Predator UAV is about the size of a Cessna, which means a collision with another aircraft is going to ruin everybody’s day. UAVs are good at looking at limited sections of ground. So far, they aren’t very good at noticing other aircraft around them – aside from final glimpses of a Russian MiG-29. The ability to fly UAVs safely in civilian airspace would open up a huge new market, and is is currently the subject of a concerted MIDCAS research and planning effort by Europe’s EDA, as well as private research. A Hermes 450 UAV has achieved civil registration in Israel, and Lockheed Martin’s UAMS experiment is looking at ways to give smaller UAVs the capabilities they’d require.
Additional Readings
* DoD Buzz (Oct 6/09) – FAA Acts or Drones Stop Flying. “Army drones will have to curtail training and operational flights by fiscal 2012 in the United States unless the FAA approves some form of UAS deconfliction, a top Army UAS official says.”