Panama City- You may have noticed something unusual in the skies over Naval Support Activity Panama City this week.
Military personnel from the Naval Surface Warfare Center have been demonstrating how to use a white blimp called a Rapidly Elevated Aerostat Platform (REAP) XL B.
It helps extend the range that base officials can control unmanned systems from shore.
It’s expected to help reduce the cost of tests at sea by conducting the training from shore.
Some officials believe that unmanned systems could potentially save lives.
“That’s the idea of having unmanned systems is being able to send them into harm’s way and not people,” said the Senior Systems Engineer Jay Doane.
Demonstrations and testing will continue through Friday.