A bright future in Unmanned Aircraft Testing & Development – Tennessee and Alabama partner with private company

ISR Group crew preps an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for flight

SAVANNAH – They don’t like to call them “Drones”. The name has too many military connotations, and that’s not where the brightest future of “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” is headed anyway. Sure, there will always be a place for military-purposed UAV’s, but if a company in Savannah has it’s way, there will be UAV’s flying over farming fields, rivers, forest fires… You name the mission and they will be there, providing an entirely new dimension of situational awareness to farmers, police, firefighters and natural resource management organizations. And because of a tremendous effort on the part of the folks at ISR Group, the future is likely to start, right here.

Centered in a 6,500-acre privately held tract midway between The Shoals and Savannah is a quiet facility. There, a partnership between the States of Tennessee and Alabama plans to test, at this, the largest Unmanned Aircraft System Test Site in the world, state-of-the-art UAV aircraft. This is a program that will be developed in our two states. The company that owns the potpourri of launch sites for UAV aircraft, a private airfield for manned aircraft, hangars, maintenance buildings, operations and training facilities, provides world-wide operational and logistics support for UAV missions for the United States, friendly Governments, and privately-held companies. And with a little luck, and a blessing from the Federal Aviation Administration, things in this quiet little chunk of Tennessee countryside, stand to decidedly pick up.

Test Site hangar in which presentation was held.

Thursday’s event at the facility was to show the operation to elected officials and the media. Also invited were a number of farmers who stand to be huge beneficiaries of this new, non-military-based technology.

Dallas Brooks, Vice-President of ISR Group gave the audience a detailed overview of the state of the United States’ UAV Test Site development program. “We are here to do the research, the development, find the answers, the techniques and technologies to enable unmanned aircraft to help people… To help people who are trapped in a flood; to help people who may be boxed in by a wildfire; to help people do scientific research such as atmospheric sampling; environmental managers track invasive plant and animal species; and even to help our farmers to be more productive.” He went on to say before any of this can happen, a lot more research and testing has to be done.

ISR Group Vice President Dallas Brooks

The Tennessee-Alabama test facility is one of nearly two-dozen places inside the continental U.S. which are still in the running for a slot as one of 6 sites to be selected by the Federal Aviation Administration by the end of this year (2013). Initially, there were over 50 applicants. The sites will be described as a FAA approved, Unmanned Aircraft System Test Site.

The test site has extremely strict rules regarding test flights of camera-equipped UAV’s. This reporter was invited to attend an actual pre-flight briefing earlier this month. Before any launch of an aircraft, detailed pre-flight meetings are held. These briefings are very similar to those of manned test flight briefings, In addition to safety instructions; operational variables; and crew coordination issues, on-board camera and sensor aiming is covered. Specifically, operators of the UAV are reminded to keep their views of the ground inside their property. Neighboring property owners never have the cameras pointed in their direction.

The future of UAV aircraft in farming is bright. Brooks explained to the audience where this technology is headed. “Farmers can see where their fields have to much or too little water. They can detect insect-damaged areas of their crops, so that they need only use expensive insecticides where they are required. The same goes for fertilizer applications. It enables them to improve their yield, use less chemicals, and help the environment,” he said.