The US Air Force has selected four potential bases to begin the training of five new squadrons of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri have been identified for the training.

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The new ground control station will train pilots on the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, according to Daily Press.

Bases will be selected on the basis of mission requirements, communications infrastructure, reserve component recruiting, facilities, support capacity, timing and cost.

Decisions will be taken in June 2010 after the air force completes an environmental impact analysis on each base.

The air force, which plans to fly 65 UAVs by the end of 2013, will launch the new squadrons to staff the increasing number of remotely piloted aircraft.

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