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The number of uncrewed aircraft in U.S. skies
has zoomed in recent years and continues to increase rapidly -
along with concern among U.S. and private-sector officials that
dangerous or even hostile drones could get too close to places
like military bases, airports and sports stadiums.
While the specific actions that the U.S. military can take
against drones are classified, they include destroying or
seizing private and commercial drones that pose a threat,
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis told reporters on
Monday.
The classified guidelines were distributed early last month. The
Pentagon sent out unclassified guidance on how to communicate
the policy to communities on Friday.
"The increase of commercial and private drones in the United
States has raised our concerns with regards to the safety and
security of our installations, aviation safety and the safety of
people," Davis said.
In April, flights of nearly all drones over 133 U.S. military
facilities were banned due to security concerns.
Drones have become popular as toys and with hobbyists, and have
commercial uses such as aerial photography. Amazon.com Inc
<AMZN.O> and Alphabet Inc's Google unit <GOOGL.O> have been
exploring the use of drones to deliver goods ordered online.
The FAA estimated the commercial drone fleet would grow from
42,000 at the end of 2016 to about 442,000 aircraft by 2021. The
FAA said there could be as many as 1.6 million commercial drones
in use by 2021.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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