Mississippi awaits FAA’s drone decision worth billions

Economic development offices and major research universities across the nation, including at Mississippi State, are waiting with great anticipation for a decision from the Federal Aviation Administration as to where to place research and test sites for drones. The FAA decision could be worth billions of dollars in economic activity and tens of thousands of new jobs. Mississippi's site would be at Camp Shelby, near Hattiesburg, where the National Guard has been testing Predator drones for years, said James Poss, a retired Air Force major general, who now directs strategic initiatives at the High Performance Computing Collaboratory at Mississippi State University. (Source: Washington Post, ‘Government Beat’ blog, Dec. 19, 2013. GCAC, Dec. 14, 2013.)