“UAS has taken off in Ohio,” Maurice McDonald, Dayton Development Coalition executive vice president for aerospace and defense, said in a coalition release. “Ohio has the infrastructure and workforce to support the UAS industry.”
In October, Ohio government and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) announced plans to invest $5 million in a ground-based “sense and avoid” system at Springfield‐Beckley Airport. Once the system is up, it will allow AFRL, based at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, to use more room in flying drones beyond line of a drone operator’s sight (also known as “BLOS” flying) in what the coalition calls “unrestricted airspace.”
BLOS research matters because it can’t be done anywhere else right now.
“Just like the Wright Brothers chose one square mile of farmland northeast of Dayton to perfect the airplane, Ohio will be on the leading edge of BLOS flight,” McDonald said.
With Wright Patterson and NASA Glenn, Ohio is home to more than $9 billion invested in UAS research each year, the coalition said.
Ohio is also the No. 1 supplier to Boeing and Airbus, and both companies spend more money in Ohio on their supply chain than any other state.
Also at XPONENTIAL in Dallas: representatives of JobsOhio, the state’s private development arm, the Ohio/Indiana UAS Center, SelectTech Services Corp., Sinclair Community College, Clark State Community College, AFRL Springfield‐Beckley Airport, Beavercreek’s Cornerstone Research Group and others.
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