Testing being done here will help determine if the tiny Weatherscout unmanned aerial vehicle can track tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean.

The Weatherscout -- called the WUAV -- flew its first mission from this base’s Northwest Field Oct. 15. That kicked off a six-week testing period by members of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center here.

If everything works out, the little UAV may find a home here in the near future, base officials said.

If it passes the test, the WUAV will be Pacific Air Force's equivalent of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Hurricane Hunter's WC-130J Hercules. The “Hunters” are currently tracking Hurricane Wilma.

The first test -- to determine the system’s sensor accuracy, endurance, maneuverability, multi-aircraft operations and data transfer capabilities -- took place at Wallops Island, Va., in early September.

While here, the Weatherscout will fly more than 300 hours during the peak of typhoon season -- June through December.

A Weatherscout flies 1,000 feet above the ocean. Its weather sensor package measures wind speed, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. As a tropical system form, the WUAV could fly to the heart of the pattern and collect information to help the typhoon center predict how a system develops.

The Weatherscout program was born in the aftermath of super typhoon Pongsonwa, a monster that ravaged Guam Dec. 8. Maximum sustained winds were 150 mph with peak gusts at 184 mph. Wanting to improve the military’s capability to forecast typhoons, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, said the UAV might be the answer.

It’s small. The Weatherscout has a 9-foot wingspan and weighs 30 pounds. It resembles a slightly oversized model airplane. It is also fuel efficient -- able to fly about 30 hours -- up to 1,800 miles -- on less than two gallons of gas. It is so portable that operators can launch it from vehicle tops.

Since it is unmanned and cheap, the Weatherscout can fly into storms in place of multimillion dollar aircraft with aircrews.
“Any time we don’t have to put a manned vehicle into harm’s way -- and weather is definitely in harm’s way --I’m all for it,” said Col. Michael Boera, 36th Air Expeditionary Wing commander.

The Weatherscout flew into Hurricane Ophelia on Sept. 16 and conducted the first-ever detailed observations of a near-surface, high-wind hurricane environment -- an area considered too dangerous for manned aircraft to observe directly.

Although the program is still undergoing evaluation, the Australian-made craft has logged more than 5,000 flight hours as a “monitoring tool” for the Air Force. And it is also currently providing imagery for the Australian coast guard.

Colonel Boera said if the program proves successful, it would provide a “very reliable, very cheap, and very accurate” capability.

“The development and use of unmanned vehicles for dangerous missions is the wave of the future,” he said.