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Air Force General Discusses Growth In Unmanned Aircraft

Maj. Gen. James Poss is in Grand Forks to discuss the growing unmanned systems industry at the Unmanned Aircraft Summit.

 

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A major general with the United States Air Force said the use of unmanned aircraft by the military has grown tremendously and there is no end in sight.

Maj. Gen. James Poss is in Grand Forks for the Unmanned Aircraft Summit to discuss the growing unmanned systems industry.

"About three months ago, we had roughly 167 UAS systems in the DOD back in 2006, I believe it was, and we have over 7,500 now," said Poss. "Truth they're not Global Hawks or Predators or Reapers, a lot of them are smaller, tactical systems. I think it illustrates the explosive growth that we've seen in unmanned aerial systems."

Poss said remotely piloted aircraft now make up about one-third of all military planes and the Air Force is training more pilots for unmanned missions than it is for traditional fighters and bombers.

(AP file photo)

 

Paul Jurgens