{"id":14781,"date":"2018-02-08T22:06:55","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T22:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/08\/interiors-magic-bullet-drones-that-are-dod-castoffs\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:41:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:41:01","slug":"interiors-magic-bullet-drones-that-are-dod-castoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/unmanned\/2018\/02\/08\/interiors-magic-bullet-drones-that-are-dod-castoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Interior\u2019s magic bullet: Drones that are DoD castoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Interior\u2019s entire fleet of drones costs less than a single one of its manned aircraft, and many of the drones are hand-me-downs from the Department of Defense. And yet, thanks to the drones, jobs like dam inspections and wildlife surveys take one-seventh the amount of time to accomplish at one-tenth the cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Interior drones are offering the rare option of reducing costs and increasing safety of personnel, said Mark Bathrick, director of the Office of Aviation Services at the Department of Interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And despite being hand-me-downs, many of these drones are brand new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got some of these drones still in the shrink-wrap from the manufacturer because DoD had already moved on to the next one,\u201d said Bathrick, likening the DoD to teenagers who have to have the most recent technology as soon as it comes out. This mentality enables Interior to work off military castoffs that are already programmed for security and government use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTraditionally drones have been thought of as instruments of the military, and in much of our psyches, the American public and abroad, they\u2019re still thought of that way,\u201d said Bathrick.<\/p>\n\n\n