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Warner: State must move quickly to land drone windfall
http://hamptonroads.com/2014/01/warner-state-must-move-quickly-land-drone-windfall
$26 million dollar Reaper (includes console) firing a $150,000 Hellfire missile
Warner: State must move quickly to land drone windfall
By Bill Bartel
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 25, 2014
If Virginia – and more specifically Hampton Roads – wants to be a player in the lucrative development of drones for nonmilitary use, its leaders have to move fast, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said Friday.
Warner, who made a personal fortune as an early investor in cellphones, predicted that experimentation with drones “could be the beginnings of an industry every bit as large as the telecommunications explosion 30 years ago.”
The state won a key victory in December when the Federal Aviation Administration selected a Virginia Tech proposal to develop test sites for unmanned aerial vehicles. The new Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership also includes New Jersey’s Rutgers University and the University of Maryland.
However, the FAA also chose five other test site proposals based in New York, North Dakota, Nevada, Texas and Alaska.