The world is developing an insatiable demand for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and keeping up with it will present both a fiscal and data management challenge. That is one of the observations made by military leaders recently at the sixth annual UAS Action Summit in Grand Forks.
The U.S. Air Force alone estimates it will need 117,000 personnel just to process all of the raw data it will receive when the next generation of technology goes online.
The newest unmanned aircraft will capture high resolution footage at a rate of 320 years each day. Major General James Poss, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, said it will not be economically feasible or practical for people to analyze all of that data. He said that the Air Force will need help processing and storing all of the footage it receives so it can continue to put the data to use.
“One of the great problems in Air Froce personnel is figuring out how to man our unmanned aircraft,” Poss said.
Jamie Morin, assistant secretary for financial management and comptroller, said the Air Force will need to properly fund and expand its UAS programme in tight fiscal times. He said it is too vital to walk away from because it is saving lives every day.
General Poss said aerospace technology has always been used first for reconnaissance, whether it was balloon flight in the 1700s or surveillance flights in World War II. By the Cold War, it was possible to process and analyze data in 12 hours. Today, critical intelligence can be delivered around the world in just two seconds.
Military use of remotely piloted aircraft has grown quickly in just the past five years. The Department of Defense fleet is now about 7,500 aircraft or one-third of all military aircraft. The Grand Forks Air Force Base is already home to military and border patrol unmanned aircraft systems. Now the region is vying to become a federal test site for civilian UAS. Six locations will likely be chosen by the end of the year.
Source: Minnesota Hi Tech Association