DoD pushes for 'routine' UAV flights in U.S. airspace

February 26, 2012 — 10:04pm ET | By David Perera

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The Defense Department says in a 25-year strategy document that it will push for its unmanned aerial vehicles to have routine access to U.S. airspace.

The strategy, which sets a research, development and policy agenda through fiscal 2036, states that unmanned flight cannot achieve its full military potential "unless [UAVs] can go where manned aircraft go with the same freedom of navigation, responsiveness and flexibility."

UAVs need routine access to national airspace, the document says, for operational, training and support missions, as well as "to support military and civil demands." A recent Congressional Research Service report (.pdf) says the number of military-owned UAVs has increased 44-fold from fiscal 2002 to fiscal 2010, to 7,494 total. UAVs now constitute 31 percent of the military aircraft inventory, the CRS report adds.

The Homeland Security Department, although far, far behind the DoD in UAV totals, nonetheless is also adding unmanned airplanes as fast it can. Customs and Border Protection announced in December it now owns nine UAVs, with six of them stationed along the southwestern border.

The principal limiting factor to wider military use of domestic airspace for UAVs, the DoD document says, is Federal Aviation Administration regulation. The FAA and DoD signed in 2007 a memorandum of agreement allowing limited military UAV flights below 1,200 feet in certain remote areas controlled.

"DoD's immediate focus is gaining near-term mission-critical access while simultaneously working toward far-term routine NAS access," the strategy adds.

The Federal Aviation Administration is already under congressional pressure to open up U.S. airspace to UAVs, with an agency reauthorization bill [P.L. 112-95] signed by President Obama Feb. 14 requiring the FAA to develop plan by Nov. 10 accelerate the integration of civil UAVs.

For more:
- download the "Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap FY2011-2036" (.pdf)

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