Coming Soon to Montgomery County: Drone Warfare!

Drones might make everyone a little uncomfortable, but who cares if they bring jobs, right? Well, about 200 of them (jobs, not drones) are coming to Horsham, where the U.S. Air Force and the Pennsylvania National Guard are creating a “command center” from which the unmanned aerial vehicles will be controlled.

The base will conduct missions to fly Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs) or drones from thousands of miles away. No aircraft will actually fly out of the base. Pilots sit in virtual cockpits on the ground while flying missions ranging from bombing to reconnaissance. The center will be in charge of piloting MQ1 and MQ9 “Reaper” drones.

Allow me to drone a little longer: This isn’t the only RPA news of the week. Yesterday Pat Toomey and Pat Meehan showed up at a VFW in Ridley Township to oppose the so-called “drone medal,” created to recognize “cyber warriors” of various stripe. And last week, a handful of drones were permitted to fly around central PA, “exclusively for training purposes.” [Fox 29]