If you have a private drone you need to take notice that you cannot fly them over military installations in the United States according to new rules from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Privately owned drones are now prohibited from flights starting April 14.
In March, Gen. John Hyten, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, informed the House Armed Services Committee in written testimony that unauthorized drone flights over Air Force and Navy installations were causing concern over the safety and security of nuclear weapons and military personnel. Both services are working on counter-UAS systems to address the intrusions, he stated.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on April 4, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) asked Hyten if he considered those flights to be incidental activities or deliberate actions. “So far, they’ve been incidental activities,” he responded. “But the fact that they’re occurring—and if you watch what is happening overseas in the (U.S.Central Command) theater with the use of lethal UAVs and the use of UAVs for surveillance on the part of a terrorist adversary—I’m very concerned that those same kind of UAVs could be employed against our weapons storage facilities, especially the nuclear weapons storage facilities.” – AINonline
The statement issued said that anyone flying an unauthorized drone in these prohibited areas could be subject to arrest with criminal charges and civil penalties. The prohibited airspace goes from the surface to 400 feet.
Privately owned hobbyist drones are expected to grow from 1.1 million in 2016 to 3.55 million in 2021 while commercial drones are expected to grow from 42,000 in 2016 to 442,000 in 2021 according to an FAA forecast.
Featured image via Pixabay, Public Domain
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