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There’s another kind of surge in Iraq no one is really taking about, even though it’s been highly sucessful, said Col. Don Hazelwood, project manager for Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems this morning at one of AUVSI’s day-two breakout sessions.

Doubling the number of UAVs in the air over Iraq has been a huge factor in keeping soldiers and civilians safe, he said, “but they get very little credit.”

In-theatre flying hours have gone from 10,000 a month last year to 20,000 a month this year, and the Army has done it on a paltry $1.2 billion UAV budget. What that might sound like quite the chunk of change, it’s a small slice — actually, 7 percent — compared to the $15 billion the Pentagon plans to spend overall on unmanned systems this year.

After a getting a couple of engineering and Army/Air Force jokes out of his system, Brig. Gen. Thomas Andersen said he also wanted to dispatch any talk of controversy at the top of his AUVSI speech.
Though Air Force’s play for executive agency over all unmanned air systems about a year and a half ago sparked conflict between the services, he said that is all in the past, at least from where he’s sitting.

Regardless of who is in charge of the systems, the Air Force, Army and Marines have to work together to bring their concepts of operations closer together, said Andersen, who is director of plans and programs at Air Combat Command. And progress is being made, we’re told.
“We still have issues with airspace control, but we’re moving forward on that every day,” he said. “And I think you’re going to see more and more commonality in the acquisition policies. It’s a big tent and we’re all trying to fit under it.”

Stay tuned for more on these converging conops…

Retired Air Force general Michael C. Kostelnik wants you to feel safe with Predators overhead at home.
“We believe, for homeland security missions in the U.S., that this is the right aircraft,” he told AUVSI-goers this morning. Now the assistant commissioner of the Office of Customs and Border Patrol’s air and marine operations (what he calls “the least known of the three services that protect our borders and customs”), Kostelnik said that sometimes staying safe means doing something risky.
“We’ve got to take more risk in the national air space,” he said. The “U” part of “UAV” is usually what strikes fear into the hearts of those on the ground, but Kostelnik said that humans are still in the loop, building, flying and maintaining the aircraft and that crashes that have occurred have been because of human error, not because of a lack of human involvement.
But flooding with skies with UAVs isn’t the cure-all for homeland security, either, he said, after treating conference goers to drug interdiction video shot last night from a Predator B over the Arizona desert.
“You can’t just do it because you want to,” he said. “The FAA is right and I’m supportive of what they’re doing to limit access. Every mission, every aircraft has to go up case by case; it depends on what you’re flying, where you’re flying, why you’re flying.”

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) this week hosts its annual North American convention and trade show in San Diego, Calif.

As the market for unmanned systems has grown exponentially in recent years, so has the annual AUVSI event. The San Diego convention center will host more than 300 exhibitors ranging from the usual military giants to mom-and-pop shops and student groups. Association officials say they expect more than 4,500 attendees from industry and governments around the world to attend three days of speeches, presentations and networking events.

The week’s pre-game excitement also includes a workshop on international standards for unmanned systems and a meeting of International Committee F41 on Unmanned Maritime Systems. Plus, months before kickoff, AUVSI set up an internet bulletin board to get discussion rolling on standards and other aspects of unmanned system development, standards, use and regulation.

Check back for updates as the show gets rolling…

Opening Plenary Session
LtGen Friedrich Ploeger, DEU AF, Executive Director, NATO Joint Air Power Competence Centre
RADM Michael Bachmann, USN, COMSPAWARSYSCOM, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command
Maj Gen Michael Kostelnik, USAF (Ret.), Assistant Commissioner, Office of Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brig Gen Thomas Andersen, USAF, Director of Plans and Programs (A5), Headquarters, Air Combat Command
Dr. Nady Boules, Director, Electrical & Controls Integration Lab, GM Research & Development, General Motors
Mr. Doug Davis, Manager, Unmanned Aircraft Program Office, Federal Aviation Administration
LTC Winfield Keller, USA, Product Manager, Future Force Unmanned Aircraft Systems
LTC Steven Noe, USA, Product Manager, Future Combat Systems, Unmanned Ground Systems
Mr. Chris Anderson, Editor, Wired Magazine; Creator, DIYDrones.com; and Author, The Long Tail