On a windy spring morning there was excitement in the air as a group of six GW faculty and students gathered at GW's Virginia Science & Technology Campus (VSTC) to conduct a flight test of a "drone," technically called an unmanned aerial system (UAS), under development for use by the U.S. Navy. The trial flight at VSTC is part of a multi-year development process to test the prototype's ability to fly and collect accurate data about when and under what conditions it is safe to land helicopters on Naval ships.
