GRAND FORKS - Air Force officials came to the University of North Dakota to ask college students from around the country for help: They say they need the students to develop unmanned aircraft systems, including a new drone that likely will take at least 10 years to get off the ground.

Col. Eric Mathewson, director of the Air Force's unmanned aircraft task force, told military and college representatives Tuesday that there's "a lot of discovery" awaiting researchers, most of whom will be based in schools.

"We don't have the time or the brainpower in the Air Force to answer all these questions," Mathewson said at the start of a three-day conference on unmanned aircraft systems. More than a dozen universities were represented in sessions on the Air Force's plan for aircraft flown by "pilots" from the ground.

Rocky Swearengin, the task force's deputy director, started a PowerPoint presentation with a recruiting pitch.

"If I could put anything up there," he said, pointing to the video screen, "it would be a 'Help Wanted' sign."

The Air Force unmanned fleet includes the Global Hawk, a high-altitude surveillance plane; the Predator, equipped with cameras, sensors, radar and missiles; and the Reaper, a larger version of the Predator that can carry up to 14 missiles or four missiles and two 500-pound bombs.

Mathewson said the new drone under development, the MQ-X, will have characteristics of all three drones along with the ability to handle combat and noncombat operations, including cargo hauling, air refueling and intelligence gathering.

One of the students at Tuesday's gathering, University of North Dakota graduate student Richie Spitsberg, liked what he heard. Spitsberg, 24, has one more semester of graduate school in mechanical engineering and is seeking a job developing drones.

"What I heard is that the military can't do it alone," Spitsberg said. "I'm hoping to play some sort of role there."

Michael Haugen, a former North Dakota National Guard commander who is now a member of the state's Board of Higher Education, noted the state's contributions to the unmanned aircraft program. Military bases handling drones in Grand Forks and Fargo and the University of North Dakota - which begins offering the nation's first major in unmanned aerial systems this fall - are advancing the use of such aircraft.

Haugen, like Mathewson a former fighter pilot, said he is comfortable with the transition from pilots in the air to pilots on the ground.

"This is the new fighter," he said, pointing to a handful of students. "These students want to serve their country and they're going to be good at flying these planes."

One issue yet to be resolved is clearing the way for drones to fly in commercial airspace. Swearengin said progress has been made in the last five months.

Officials from the Defense Department and the Federal Aviation Administration met two weeks ago to begin work on an airspace map, Swearengin said. Representatives of other agencies, including NASA, the Homeland Security Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will soon join the discussions, he said.

"This is a good first step in the right direction," he said.