http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/12/uav-conference.html
Robo-Planes Log 250,000 Flight Hours This Year
By Noah Shachtman December 17, 2007 | 12:29:00 PMCategories: Drones
How important are drone's to today's armed forces? In 2002, the U.S. military's unmanned air force flew a total of 30,000 hours. Last year, that total rose to 160,000. In 2007, the number of robotic flight hours should peak at over 250,000 -- an increase of more than 50% in just a year, according to a recent Defense Department presentation.
Remarkably, that figure doesn't include the small, hand-launched drones which account for more than 80% of the military's robo-plane fleet. Instead, it's the bigger unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs -- Global Hawks, Predators, and the like -- that are flying all those hours.
And with more use comes more money. Spending on UAVs has gone from $400 million in 2002 to more than $2 billion next year to an expected $3.5 billion by fiscal year 2010.
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