Kelly Hills outlines FAA UAS test range, seeks Kansas role in drone agriculture and firefighting

Lucas Cope, chief executive officer of Kelly Hills Unmanned Systems, told the Kansas Committee on Transportation on an informational briefing that his company was awarded a Federal Aviation Administration UAS test range and is using it to test and commercialize drones for agriculture and firefighting.

The briefing laid out the company’s focus, partnerships and technical needs. "We joined forces with the FAA and were awarded a UAS test range," Cope said, describing the range as a place where companies can move prototypes quickly from garage to flight. He told the committee Kelly Hills is concentrating on beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights to enable autonomous spot-spraying and other precision-agriculture tasks.

Why it matters: BVLOS operations can enable daily autonomous missions and precision spraying that proponents say could reduce chemical use and labor needs on farms, while also creating new services for rural economies. Committee members pressed the presenter on safety, airspace coordination and regulatory constraints, and asked what state-level actions could…