Weight of UAV may determine who controls it

Navy Times reports

By Joshua Stewart – Staff Writer

If you’re interested in working with unmanned aerial vehicles, you may get some career guidance from a bathroom scale.

The Navy has set a weight-based threshold for who will operate unmanned aircraft, with UAVs weighing more than 55 pounds being operated as adjuncts to manned systems, while operators of lighter aircraft will come from other corners of the service.

Additionally, it’s expected that officers will fly the larger, more complex UAVs, while enlisted sailors will operate the smaller ones that fly at low altitudes and close to the aircraft’s control center, Joe Gradisher, spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance, said in a statement.

Read the full story here http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/03/navy-uav-weight-may-determine-controls-operators-032512w/