Photos: Where ScanEagle drones dare

Even with the new autonomous capabilities in the ScanEagle, surveillance efforts will often dictate that a human maintain a greater degree of oversight--and now, Boeing says, a ScanEagle operator can control multiple UAVs simultaneously. During the Oregon tests, a mission operator managed three ScanEagles at the same time. Meanwhile, an observer in the field relayed information on a target's location via cell phone to an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) console. The AWACS operator was able to request video of the target and relay that to the observer's cell phone, according to Boeing.

In this photo from August 2006, a contractor for a Marine UAV squadron in the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), carries a ScanEagle after it completed a flight in Iraq's Al Anbar province.