The Raptr hovers stubbornly at an altitude of about 100 feet despite a lashing Oklahoma wind, its 73-inch rotor blades whirring like a swarm of buzzing bees. Then handler Curtis Sprague disconnects the remote device that he is using to control the mini-helicopter, leaving the pilotless aircraft to move entirely under its
own steam – a flying robot let loose in the clear blue sky. The unmanned plane does a pirouette, then flies back to the spot from which it was launched. It lowers itself slowly to the runway, landing with a slight shudder before switching itself off.
Equipped with a military-grade autopilot that can make up to 500 flight corrections per second even as it carries out fully-autonomous surveillance of an area with a 10-mile radius, the Raptr is one of a new generation of drones now poised to burst onto the civilian scene. The helicopter’s ability to transmit real-time video and thermal imaging over a wide area has already attracted interest from as far afield as South Africa, where game keepers want to use it to thwart rhino poachers. (Drones are also being eyed as a means of carrying snake antivenom to the Australian outback.)
In the US, a diverse group of interests have their eyes on the technology – fire fighters combatting wild fires, police departments tracking fugitives, farmers on the watch for diseased or parched crops, TV crews filming breaking news.
Public debate about drones continues to be dominated by the controversy around the Obama administration’s ongoing policy of targetted killings. Attention has focused on the weaponised aircraft, such as the Global Hawk and the Predator, that have been deployed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and other conflict spots.
But all that is about to change. Though Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ boast on 60 Minutes that one day his company will drop packages on its customers’ doorsteps using unmanned “octocopters” was more than a little futuristic, given the hurdles to flying drones in densely populated urban areas, it’s likely only a matter of time before drones really do make their entry into civilian life.
A 'road map' for drones
Indeed, the Federal Aviation Authority is about to make a giant leap towards unleashing drones into American skies. The FAA has promised to announce by the end of the month the six states that it has chosen as the hosts of the official drone test sites that within a couple of years will provide a “road map" to drone participation in civilian life, including the integration of larger, high-altitude, unmanned aircraft into the air traffic control system.
Small drones (defined as those lighter than 55lbs) could be allowed to begin commercial operations in the US as early as 2015, according to aviation experts. Larger unmanned vehicles designed for use in heavier tasks such as crop spraying and cargo delivery are expected to follow suit by around 2020.
Already, a burgeoning sector of aerospace firms is actively developing civilian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in preparation for FAA approval. Some of the drones are small enough to put in your pocket; some are powered by the Sun. Their potential uses range from crowd control and law enforcement to predicting tornadoes and surveying livestock on cattle ranches. One, the snappily-named Dehogaflier, is designed to lead hunters towards feral pigs.
“In 10 years everyone will be familiar with UAVs, they will be routine,” said James Grimsley, the CEO of Design Intelligence Corporation, a tech company that is developing a solar-powered drone called the Eturnas. “As they get cheaper and smaller, they will be used more and more, until they become ordinary.”
Oklahoma is one of 24 states bidding to host one of the six FAA test sites. The stakes are high: the Oklahoma department of commerce estimates that if the state is awarded one of the contracts it stands to create 2,000 jobs and generate $200m a year in economic activity as well as $20m in state tax revenues. Overall, the Teal Group has suggested that drones could be doing $100bn of business across the country by 2025.