Related links
DUGWAY PROVING GROUND -
The U.S. Army is breaking ground on a new facility that could help the United States in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Rapid Integration and Acceptance Center is designed for the speedy testing of unmanned drones to get them into the battlefield. The Dugway Proving Ground was chosen to be the site in part because it is vast and isolated. There is no aircraft flying overhead and no radio frequency issues, making it a perfect place to test the unmanned aircraft.
"We needed a place where we could do laser designation and then fire the weapons, and this provides us that opportunity as well," said Col. Gregory Gonzalez the project manager of Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
It could also prove helpful because of its resemblance to certain areas in Afghanistan and Iraq, soldiers at the testing facility say. The facility will help rapidly test newly manufactured drones, then ship them off to war.
The government is looking at using unmanned drones even more as it fights the wars overseas. Brigadier General William T. Crosby told Fox 13 News that drones help, but you still need people.
"You can't put situational curiosity in a sensor," he said Wednesday. "It can go out, it can see and it can report back, but some man or woman in the loop is going to have to assess the data these systems give them and make a decision whether to engage, whether it's and IED being placed on the ground, whether it's friendly forces."
FOX 13's Ben Winslow has more.
"We needed a place where we could do laser designation and then fire the weapons, and this provides us that opportunity as well," said Col. Gregory Gonzalez the project manager of Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
It could also prove helpful because of its resemblance to certain areas in Afghanistan and Iraq, soldiers at the testing facility say. The facility will help rapidly test newly manufactured drones, then ship them off to war.
The government is looking at using unmanned drones even more as it fights the wars overseas. Brigadier General William T. Crosby told Fox 13 News that drones help, but you still need people.
"You can't put situational curiosity in a sensor," he said Wednesday. "It can go out, it can see and it can report back, but some man or woman in the loop is going to have to assess the data these systems give them and make a decision whether to engage, whether it's and IED being placed on the ground, whether it's friendly forces."
FOX 13's Ben Winslow has more.
