GA pilots helping boost drone ops

The Defense Department has hired General Atomics to help boost its drone operations by 50 percent by 2019. GA’s Predator and Reaper drone-pilots have begun flying intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data missions for the Defense Department in August. It’s not unusual for DOD to hire drone-makers to fly them. But the Predator is a highly capable drone that can fly at 10,000 feet and armed with missiles. DOD doesn’t have plans to allow contractors to fire those missiles, but allowing them to feed targeting data to the military trigger-pullers is a step closer in that direction. ISR is 99 percent of drone pilot flight hours. GA officials wouldn’t disclose the location of the missions or details. Air Force drone pilots fly 60 Predator and Reaper combat air patrols. On CAP aircraft is up 24/7. The Pentagon is aiming for 90 flights by 2019. But the war-time drone patrols are wearing down those AF crews; and that fact has DOD leaders turning to the Army, U.S. Special Operations Command and the aerospace defense industry. Contractors could be hired to fly older non-strike Predators for around 10 flights per day. Some see it as the first step toward allowing civilian contractors being allowed to fire weapons on behalf of the military. (Source: Defense One 08/18/15) Central Mississippi Note: General Atomics operates an Electromagnetic Systems (EMS) manufacturing and test facility in Shannon, Miss., in the the suburbs of Tupelo.