It used to be the Business of Drones, and waiting 20-years to do things right and for safe integration was plausible. Now, it’s not just economic security, but national security that invalidates the snail’s pace.
Dispatch 4 of 4
It only took a short time of involvement to understand that drones would be part of the twenty-first century’s geopolitical conversation. In 2005 that was a hard sell even at the Department of Defense, which was enamored of ground robots. The contention was simple for me: a ground robot cannot look in the back of a truck or on top of a building for a sniper. The pitch was attributable mass — say five disposable airframes on one radio or ground control station. The legacy vendors were not interested in any upstarts cutting in on six figure Puma’s or Ravens.
When John Milius wrote this in 1983, people called it jingoism. Today it reads closer to prophecy. It is doubtful Europe could muster and deploy on the order of 20,000 troops in six months to stop a full-scale Russian invasion. Deindustrialization is not something you come back from with a flick of a switch. The laundromat is giving the causation of the last few World wars the old fluff and fold. Confidence in the present European political committee appointment class is not high.
Who do we get to count on to pull the United States’ fat from the fryer? The politically lost contents of Europe? Africa? South America, Cryin’ Kier Starmer? The Western tagalong countries that copied the FAA fiefdom follies are in a catastrophic predicament.
Before, it was the Business of Drones. Now we have to agree that drone hysteria, the ensuing lack of credibility and ultimately airspace supremacy is what is at stake.
The work is too important. Part 108 is in peril is not a serious path for ordinary mom and pop operators. The small-business carve-out still matters, but the charge is larger: dual-use airspace, an innovative domestic industrial base, and a press that will say the names to in order to keep it honest.
You can rest assured that the “advocacy” groups have sold you out for their six-figure salary. There have been reprisals from the FAA, self-proclaimed “experts,” and the advocates. However, that is no reason to stop talking about doing the right thing for the community and the country.
The NAS is still a public-trust resource. The FAA works for us, and the First Amendment still applies. The Western unmanned mission is still too important to let go , and we will continue to ride to the sound of the drones.
To be continued.