General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. has confirmed plans to open a RPA Training Academy in Grand Forks, North Dakota. GA-ASI has signed a 10-year lease and is expecting to break ground soon. GA-ASI flight crew training will commence early next year and the company expects to welcome its first Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers shortly thereafter.
“The mission of the GA-ASI Training Academy is to increase the overall capacity for flight crew training on our aircraft systems,” said Linden P. Blue, CEO, GA-ASI. “The Training Academy will complement our customers’ organic training capabilities and fill the growing need across our RPA enterprise to address the pilot shortage.”
Working with leading industry training experts, academia, and local North Dakota industry, the Training Academy in Grand Forks will provide state-of-the-art flight instruction to aircrews operating GA-ASI aircraft. In addition to providing increased capacity to train the company’s own aircrews, the Training Academy also will train FMS customers who are seeking to grow their aircrew numbers to meet current operational demand.
Operating year-round, GA-ASI’s RPA Training Academy will offer multiple courses per year using U.S. Government-approved curricula, with the potential of training up to 60 flight crews per year. In addition to training, the Academy also may conduct RPA airspace integration systems testing.
“We selected North Dakota as the site for our new Training Academy because it offered an unequaled opportunity to support both our U. S. Air Force customer and international customers,” said Frank W. Pace, president, Aircraft Systems, GA-ASI. “Uncongested skies, an optimal training range, and strong support for continued RPA development from local, state, and federal government representatives, including outstanding advocacy from Senator John Hoeven [R-ND] and Representative Kevin Cramer [R-ND], provide a great environment to support our customers’ training requirements.”
Over the last two decades, GA-ASI has trained hundreds of company and customer aircrews at its Gray Butte and El Mirage Flight Operations Facilities near Palmdale, California. Opening the North Dakota Training Academy will provide an additional resource to meet growing worldwide demand for RPA training operations, as well airspace integration testing.
GA-ASI will operate from a five-and-a-half acre location within the Grand Sky complex which is co-located on Grand Forks Air Force Base (AFB). The Grand Forks AFB presently serves as the base of operations for U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Customs and Border Protection Predator B aircraft and MQ-1 Predator A aircraft operated by the North Dakota Air National Guard.
“We are honoured to add General Atomics to the growing list of operators choosing to do business at Grand Sky,” says Thomas Swoyer, Jr., President of Grand Sky Development Company. “Their decision to locate a facility at our site cements the fact that Grand Sky is the best place in the world to continue developing this industry. We look forward to seeing the advancements General Atomics, and our other tenants, make as a result of operating in this extremely collaborative and supportive environment.”
Grand Sky is co-located with the Grand Forks Air Force Base, where two of GA-ASI’s current products – the Predator B aircraft and MQ-1 Predator A aircraft – are operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Customs and Border Protection and North Dakota Air National Guard, respectively. GA-ASI says it selected Grand Sky and Grand Forks to expand its training operations for several reasons, including the state’s uncongested skies; local, state and federal support of the industry, and a training range to meet its customers’ needs.
Grand Sky Development Company President Thomas Swoyer, Jr., says the combination of full security, access to a long Air Force Base runway, a supportive business climate, close proximity to an FAA test site and several nearby higher education institutions with UAS-related training programs makes Grand Sky truly unique in the industry. “There is no other place in the nation that offers this many positives when it comes to researching and commercializing UAS products,” he says. “Interest is high in Grand Sky among the industry for that very reason and we expect to announce additional tenants by the end of this year.”
Grand Sky offers 1.2 million square feet of space when fully developed. Earlier this year, Northrop Grumman agreed to lease 10 acres of space for research, flight tests, training, light manufacturing and other activities. Future tenants could include those interested in hangar space, data centers, laboratories or office space.
GA-ASI aircraft have amassed over 3.5 million flight hours, maintaining the highest reliability ratings in the U.S. Air Force, and have been integrated seamlessly into some of the most complex operational airspace in U.S. border patrol and overseas military operations.
GA-ASI is working closely with the FAA, the Air Force, and the Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site to ensure smooth integration into the airspace over North Dakota. The company also is involved in several internally-funded and joint initiatives with the U.S. Government that are intended to improve the detect-and-avoid system redundancy of its RPA systems to a level greater than that available to most traditional manned aircraft.
Source: Press Release