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“Virginia is for drones?”

Senators want unmanned aircraft testing center in Mid-Atlantic States

By Layer 8 on Fri, 02/10/12 - 12:28pm.

. What's this?

boeing "Virginia is for drones" might be the new catch-phrase for the state if its senators succeed in bringing a major unmanned aircraft flight test center to the area.

Democratic senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner from Virginia and along with Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland sent a joint letter to the Secretaries of Defense, Transportation and the NASA Administrator touting the Virginia/Maryland region as a strategic place to host one of the nation's first major Unmanned Aircraft Systems test range.

Background: What the drone invasion looks like

The reason for the push? The passage of the National Defense Authorization Act and FAA Reauthorization Bill, recently by congress requires the Federal Aviation Administration to pick six test ranges for unmanned flight testing and development within 180 days, and incorporate airspace for military, commercial and privately-owned unmanned aircraft by the Fall of 2015.

The Senators pointed out that the area is teaming with existing facilities that could be utilized for such as center - from Maryland's Naval Air Station Patuxent River which has supported the testing of nearly every type of drone in service today to the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore which has a unmanned aircraft runway, launch range, an aeronautical research airport, hangar space and radar facilities. NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, already conducts advanced joint research on drone systems with the FAA, and adjacent Langley Air Force Base has refined the process of collecting sensor data from drone systems and serves as a key operational hub for the Air Force.

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The nonprofit National Institute of Aerospace research facility in Hampton has long-term relationships with many of the most highly acclaimed aerospace-related academic institutions and experts in the region and across the county, and there are nearly 30,000 square miles of Special Use airspace over the Atlantic Ocean the senators stated.

"The congressional intent ... is clear: utilize existing facilities and range space. There is no accompanying appropriation to establish this program, nor should there be because the facilities and test ranges already exist," the Senators wrote. "There is no reason to create additional restricted airspace, a lengthy process, or to construct additional range infrastructure, given the significant investment already made in the Maryland-Virginia region."

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