Posted: April 29th 2010
From the Rapid City Journal:
A U.S. Air Force team will be at Ellsworth Air Force Base today for an on-site evaluation of the facility as the possible home to an expanded mission with unmanned drones.
Staffers for Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., confirmed Wednesday that the team, expected to include from six to nine people, would be at the base today. It was unclear Wednesday how long the evaluation team would stay.
Ellsworth is one of four bases selected out of more than 200 as finalists for the expanded mission. The Air Force plans on increasing the number and roles of remotely piloted vehicle operations, or drones, over Afghanistan and Iraq.
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The other bases in the running for the new mission are Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.
