Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb: ‘Drone boom’ may be in Oklahoma’s future
No one was surprised when a U.S. drone destroyed al-Qaida fugitive Anwar al-Awlaki’s convoy in September. These successes have become routine. Yet just 10 years ago, placing a missile on a remote-control aircraft was so futuristic and controversial, neither the CIA nor the Air Force wanted the mission.
And the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) revolution is just getting started. That’s good news for Oklahoma, a world leader in UAS technology. If Congress does its part — that’s always a big if — an Oklahoma “drone boom” may be at hand.
The potential market is already developing. A UAS unit scouted the Fukushima disaster site without putting humans at risk. Unmanned aircraft are tracking wildfires and patrolling our borders. Advanced systems capable of spraying crops and inspecting bridges and pipelines are on the way.
UAS cameras can help locate kidnap victims. Someday, the smallest towns will have access to aerial technology for emergency response that only the biggest cities now enjoy.
The technology is coming, but this question remains: Will the next generation of unmanned aircraft systems be American made or stamped “Made in China” like too many other things we buy?
America’s current UAS edge didn’t happen by accident. Our government invested in this research for years. Even during lean times, like the 1990s “procurement holiday,” planners supported game-changers like the UAS technology. Because of this commitment, when the call came after 9/11, the Predator was ready.
This is a critical time. The United States currently leads the world in drones, but other countries are closing in. China recently unveiled 25 UAS models. When NATO ran short of drones in Libya, rebel leaders bought their own from Canada. Two thirds of UAS spending was overseas in 2010.
And now the budget battles in Congress are putting funding for research and innovation — investments that drive American UAS superiority — at risk.
If the new debt “supercommittee” deadlocks, $600 billion in cuts will hit defense. Research into UAS and related technologies like satellites and air traffic control will be hit especially hard, even though investment has already been cut to the bone, down to just over 1 percent of GDP.
I’m a fiscal conservative. I strongly support reining in spending and eliminating our debt. But where national security and our economic future are concerned, cuts must be made with care.
Oklahoma is doing everything it can to build a UAS industry for the future — from our Unmanned Aerial Systems Council to the UAS studies at a state university to the Fort Sill “superhighway” that will provide a UAS testing ground unlike any other facility in the world.
But Congress needs to do its part. That means supporting continued research and investment and not allowing automatic budget cuts to decimate these critical programs.
