Businesses eager for role in unmanned aircraft project
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
DAYTON — The region's business community is interested in supporting the Air Force's development of unmanned aerial vehicles at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and elsewhere, the Dayton Development Coalition said.
The public-private coalition has conducted a series of roundtable meetings with business leaders this year and has been pleased with the response, said Joe Zeis, the coalition's vice president for aerospace and defense. Fifty-five people showed up for the first meeting in May when only 25 were expected, he said.
"Obviously, there's a lot of interest in it," Zeis said.
The goal of the meetings is to inform the business community about opportunities to respond to specific Air Force development needs in technical, sensor, advanced materials and propulsion research for the unmanned aircraft, Zeis said.
The next roundtable meeting will likely occur in about a month and will focus on how businesses could do rapid prototyping work to speed up development and demonstration of new technologies, he said.
The Air Force Research Laboratory wants to develop small, agile unmanned aircraft the size of birds and bugs, improve the intelligence and surveillance capabilities of the larger unmanned aircraft, and create versions that troops can assemble on the battlefield and deploy to watch the enemy, said Joe Sciabica, the AFRL's executive director. Sciabica said he welcomes the business community's interest.
The research will generate jobs for the region's future, although how many is difficult to estimate, said Deborah Gross, president of the Dayton Area Defense Contractors Association.
Her organization is a partner in organizing a July 13-18, 2009, trade and technology show in Dayton to be held in conjunction with the Dayton Air Show. Gross said it will include the Wright Dialogue with Industry, an annual meeting of defense contractors with Air Force officials, as well as sessions on development of advanced manufacturing techniques, alternative energy/fuels, unmanned aircraft, sensors and aerospace medicine.
"We selected those specifically because they were areas of interest for the Air Force," Gross said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or
jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
