Despite the long and often controversial use of military UAVs in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the prevalence and performance in Ukraine of drones – this time, the consumer variety – have been both a surprise and often determining factor in local forces repelling invading Russian forces. Indeed, some experts now believe the results of store-bought drones as well as military-grade craft are forcing reconsideration of decades old military strategies about waging war.
Interior Dept’s ‘Drone Meister’ discusses UAS past, present, and future
If a single person were to be designed the “Drone Meister” of US government aerial operations, it might well be Mark Bathrick – the recently retired director of the Department of the Interior’s Office of Aviation Services (OAS), who assembled and oversaw the increasingly diversified use of the world’s largest fleet of non-military UAS. Creator of the agency’s “Drones for Good” program, Bathrick spoke to DroneDJ about how those operations evolved over the past two decades and how it’s likely to continue in the future.
