US plans to build first airport for drones

It will be an airport with a difference and one without the key characters in any conventional airport -- pilots.

It would be the first airport dedicated to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, the Defence Systems website reported Wednesday.

Indeed, the US Army's ever-growing use of UAVs has reached such a stage that two of the most commonly used drones would be getting their own airport.

The US Army's Corps of Engineers at Fort Worth, Texas, has awarded a $33-million contract to the inspection, verification, testing and certification services company, SGS, to build a 150-acre unmanned aircraft launch and recovery complex at Fort Bliss for the "Grey Eagle" and "Shadow" drones.

The complex will include a 50,000 sq ft unmanned aircraft maintenance hangar and more than a mile of runways, aprons, and taxiways, according to an announcement by the company.

The runways will include a 5,000 feet runway for the Grey Eagle and a 1,000 feet runway for the smaller Shadow.

In addition to maintenance shops, administrative space and storage space in the hangar, the facilities will also have a five-tonne bridge crane, oil/water separator, aircraft container and forklift storage, oil and hazardous waste storage buildings, overhead protection/canopy and so on.

The airport will be fenced and secured, and the US Army said that all operations would take place in a restricted airspace.

The US Army's 25-year roadmap for unmanned systems, released in 2010, calls for integrating UAVs across the full spectrum of military operations.

Fort Bliss hosts the First Armoured Division and accommodates a variety of ground vehicles, along with the Apache and Black Hawk helicopters.

The Grey Eagle, the US Army's largest UAV, is a long-range, medium altitude system used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, attack, air support and as a communications hub.

The catapult-launched Shadow is used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), targeting and assessment.