FAA Takes Major Step in Expanding Drone Use in America

US President Barack Obama has approved legislation that is expected to immediately accelerate the use of domestic surveillance drones within the United States.

On Thursday, Pres. Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, a bill that the Federal Aviation Administration’s AnneMarie Ternay describes as containing requirements for integrating unmanned aircraft systems and vehicles such as drones into the national airspace starting immediately.

With the president’s approval this week, the FAA has already begun soliciting proposals from cities across the country that are interested in becoming one of six soon-to-be established test sites where drones and UAVs will be sent into the sky as America takes the next step towards accepting the latest generation of aircraft.

The FAA says that locations in over 30 states have already showed interest in the program. Soon the agency will be tasked with picking a mere half-dozen locations so that drones can formally be introduced into official US airspace and not just strips of sky above designated areas.

Should the FAA stay on schedule, drones are likely to start flying regularly in the US by late 2015, and as many as 30,000 non-military UAVs are expected to be in the sky by the end of the decade.

First, however, the FAA, drone builders and pilots will have to pick test sites to work out the kinks of a controversial aircraft.

more here: http://theintelhub.com/2013/02/16/faa-takes-major-step-in-expanding-drone-use-in-america/