Utah is where Army learns to fly drones better

By Nate Carlisle | The Salt Lake Tribune

Dugway Proving Ground » Earlier this year, Apache helicopters flying in Afghanistan received new companions in the sky.

Two types of drones — the MQ-1C Gray Eagle and the RQ-7 Shadow — began flying in tandem with the Apaches. The drones’ cameras and sensors transmit the intelligence to the Apache crew — showing it what lies over the hill so the Apaches don’t have to expose themselves to find a target to attack or don’t fly into an ambush.

The Shadow has no armament. But if it’s a Gray Eagle in the air, the Apache crew could order the drone to fire its Hellfire missiles at the target — keeping the Apache crew from harm altogether.

Before the helicopters and drones were paired in Afghanistan, they flew together in Utah.

Dugway Proving Ground is the Army’s primary testing center for unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS. (Just about everyone in aviation dislikes the term “drone.”) At Dugway, the Army is trying to make UAS more efficient and easier to use, planning for the day when UAS are even more ubiquitous on the battlefield.

“It’s really the fabric of our Army right now,”said Col. Tim Baxter, the Army project manager for UAS. Baxter said UAS is changing the way the Army fights and points to their heavy use in Afghanistan.

The way the Army fights is what concerns a Utah law professor. He wonders if the Army should also be testing ways to avoid killing civilians, too.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57400979-90/uas-army-amp-dugway.html.csp