Guard starts drone flights from Pendleton airport

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Army National Guard has begun flying drones over civilian airspace from the airport in Pendleton, using a smaller, unarmed version of the Predator drone.

The Guard’s drone operation has for about a decade been sharing space nearby with the Navy at a bombing range near Boardman, where jets from Whidbey Island naval Air Station on Puget Sound simulate low-level attacks, The Oregonian newspaper (http://bit.ly/13xdKo5 ) reported.