Surveillance drone use and development is on the rise in the military and civilian sectors, and the Marine Corps in Hawaii said it is expected to get a dozen RQ-7B Shadows followed by 45 RQ-21A Integrators with the relocation of Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 3 from California to Kaneohe Bay.
The Shadow has a 14-foot wingspan and 375-pound maximum takeoff weight, while the newer Integrator is 16 feet across and has a 135-pound maximum weight. Both are propeller-driven, and both can fly upward of 15,000 feet.
The Marines are working on an environmental assessment for the relocation of VMU-3 and about 270 personnel, with a draft assessment expected to be released for public review in October, officials said. A final decision is expected in 2014.
The unmanned vehicles would add to Marine air-component capabilities in the Pacific and ensure that "Marine forces are sufficiently manned, trained and equipped to meet any crisis or conflict," Marine Corps Base Hawaii said in an email.
A dozen Shadow UAVs would be used initially, followed by the Integrators "at a later date," the Marine Corps said.
The Shadows take off from a pneumatic launcher and land on a runway, while Integrators can be launched from a ship and are "landed" by having them run into a cable in midair.
The 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks already operates about 10 Shadows, and the Hawaii Army National Guard said it has four.
More than 30 smaller Raven and Puma UAVs are flown by the 25th Division. The Marines also use the hand-launched Raven.
The Congressional Research Service reported last year that the Defense Department’s UAV inventory increased more than 40-fold from 2002 to 2010.
"Conventional wisdom states that UAS (unmanned aerial systems) offer two main advantages over manned aircraft: They are considered more cost-effective, and they minimize the risk to a pilot’s life," the research service said.
According to its findings, 41 percent of 18,261 Defense Department aircraft were unmanned in 2010.
On the commercial side of drone use, Hawaii has applied to be a test bed for increased UAV flights as the Federal Aviation Administration seeks to create rules of the air and incorporate a growing number of the flying robots into the nation’s airspace. Routine UAV operations over densely populated areas are currently prohibited by the FAA.
The potential for all that surveillance capability has raised privacy concerns. In the 2013 legislative session, state Sen. Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai) introduced a bill that would make it illegal to gather and disclose drone surveillance information, with exceptions for emergencies, court orders and warrants. The bill stalled in committee.
The military in Hawaii says it does its drone flying over bases including Schofield and Wheeler Army Airfield, Bellows, Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island and the Pacific Missile Range on Kauai.
A 2011 demonstration of the Shadow’s capabilities high over Wheeler showed that even though the UAV was practically out of sight, operators could make out activity fairly clearly on the ground.
"THE amount of airspace that we can fly UAVs in is pretty limited in Hawaii," said Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, a state Defense Department spokesman.
Military drones are used for wartime surveillance and training, "but these UAVs that both the National Guard and active-duty military use are never used for surveillance in a domestic-type scenario," Anthony said.
The Hawaii National Guard would like to use its Shadows for disaster-type damage assessment, "but again, that’s not using it for surveillance, that’s using it for damage assessment," Anthony said.
