ST. LOUIS, March 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Boeing have developed UAVs to look for biowar agents.

DTRA and Boeing "have demonstrated successfully that ScanEagle unmanned air vehicles modified to look for biological warfare agents can effectively intercept, detect and fly through simulated biological plumes or clouds to collect airborne agents," Boeing said in a statement Monday.

"Tests also show that the UAVs can successfully collect airborne material and data from a target site that can help U.S. forces combat the threat from biological agents and minimize the danger to friendly forces and civilians," the company said.

"From early November 2007 to the end of January 2008, Boeing conducted developmental, shipboard integration and operational flight tests of the Biological Combat Assessment System as part of the BCAS Advanced Technology Demonstration program," it said.

"Developmental testing was conducted in November 2007 at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. The shipboard integration testing was conducted at sea in early December 2007. And, in late January 2008, the final operational demonstration test was conducted from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command 38 research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico," Boeing said.