FRIDAY FOTO (August 7, 2015)

Brown Water Patrol.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Joshua Scott

U.S. sailors and Indonesian Kopaska naval special forces practice patrol formations during Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training Indonesia (CARAT) 2015 in Surabaya, Indonesia, August 5, 2015.(Click on the photo to enlarge image).

In its 21st year, this annual exercise includes the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as well as the armed forces of nine partner nations, including Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

The U.S. sailors are assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron (CRS) 3. Part of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, the Navy’s three Riverine Squadrons focus on conducting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation in coastal areas, rivers and deltas.

UNMANNED AIRCRAFT: UPDATE — Wallops Island Drone-port; Drone Business Report; Latin American UAS Market

UPDATES with link to Latin America drone market article in Unmanned Systems (see last item below)

Virginia Drone Port.

Courtesy Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced today (August 6) that work will begin in the fall on a 3,000-foot runway for unmanned aircraft at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, on the state’s Eastern Shore, according to a Norfolk television report (WVEC).

Flight operations will begin in 2016, McAuliffe told a news conference at Old Dominion University, home of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority.

He also said an agreement has been reached to provide funding to complete the approximately $15 million in repairs to a launch pad damaged last year when a rocket exploded. The spaceport is one of only four facilities licensed by the federal government to launch rockets into orbit.

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The Drone Biz.

Aerial photography and land surveying are among the top uses of commercial unmanned aircraft technology that have been approved for flight by the Federal Aviation Administration, we learn from a report by the largest robotics industry group, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI).

“Businesses across every industry sector have been waiting to use UAS for years and are excited to finally get this technology off the ground,” Brian Wynne, AUVSI’s president and CEO, said in statement.

The first 500 FAA exemptions to the current ban on commercial drone operations approved were examined by AUVSI and compiled in a report published just prior to the FAA’s announcement that the number of Section 333 exemptions it has granted hit 1,000 this week. For more details, see this article in the Grand Forks (North Dakota) Herald.

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Latin American Market.

Photo courtesy Aerialtronics.

Speaking of the drone business, your 4GWAR editor has a story on the Latin American market for unmanned aircraft in the August issue of Unmanned Systems, the AUVSI magazine.

“From Mexico’s Caribbean coast and the Amazon rainforest to the Argentine Pampas, unmanned aircraft are assessing hurricane damage, surveying timberland and monitoring crops and livestock for government agencies and big corporations.”

Now that August is over, you can see our entire story here.