Positive reconnaissance/surveillance and hunter/killer experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq already have engineers at prime contractor GA-ASI in San Diego, CA working on several new adaptations and applications, according to John Porter, the company's business development manager. "We think the Predator family of UAVs is a perfect fit for homeland security. It should allay the FAA's concerns over unmanned aircraft operations in U.S. airspace. There are three flight computers as well as redundant flight control systems ― each wing has two ailerons, each controlled by its own dedicated flight sensor unit. The distribution architecture is dual redundant, as is the Line-of-Site (LOS) datalink. "The only single point failure is the engine, which is a very proven Honeywell turboprop with a history of millions of flight hours. The opportunity to support a lot of missions ― government for homeland security or in the commercial sector ― is opening up, including forestry, agricultural, power, and pipeline surveillance."
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