Operational deployment of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to release sterile pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) over cotton in Arizona as a rapid response tool

As a result of the highly successful cooperative Pink Bollworm Eradication Program and continued work with APHIS partners in Mexico, pink bollworm - an invasive exotic species and a key pest of cotton worldwide -  has not been detected in the Southwestern United States or Northern Mexico since May 2012. That said, pink bollworm populations are known to exist south of the U.S. border, in the states of Durango and Coahuila, Mexico, making the reintroduction of this pest a possibility. In order to mitigate the risk of a potential reintroduction, USDA-APHIS-PPQ-CPHST S&T Phoenix Lab, in cooperation with M3 Consulting Group developed and operated an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to release sterile pink bollworm throughout cotton fields in Arizona. This solution is designed to serve as a rapid response tool to release sterile pink bollworm over precise coordinates. In addition to releasing sterile pink bollworm from the UAS, APHIS and M3 Consulting Group conducted an economic analysis to assess the efficacy of UAS in comparison to Cessna 206 and hand release. UAS are designed with three key tasks in mind, namely to safely operate in dull, dirty and dangerous environments.  It is envisioned that the operation of the UAS will increase safety - pink bollworm has suffered two crashes involving conventional, fixed wing aircraft at a cost of three lives - and provide a viable, rapid response solution for the release of sterile pink bollworm in US agricultural airspace, the third most dangerous airspace in the National Airspace System, as noted by the National Transportation Safety Board.