According to a report by the Dayton Daily News, zeal for a top role in the unmanned aircraft arena has prompted the Dayton Development Coalition to try to garner support within Congress and the FAA for new airspace near Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to fly UAVs. “Having compatible airspace, that’s the Holy Grail, that’s the key to breaking into having a significant chunk of the UAV industry,” said Joe Zeis, chief strategist and a DDC vice president. So far, reports the newspaper, the FAA is “cool to the idea.”
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…