{"id":22650,"date":"2022-07-04T17:45:35","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T17:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=22650"},"modified":"2022-07-04T17:45:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T17:45:38","slug":"oklahoma-ranked-1-regarding-state-readiness-for-drone-commerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/oklahoma\/oklahoma-ranked-1-regarding-state-readiness-for-drone-commerce\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Ranked #1 regarding State Readiness for Drone Commerce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a Mercatus Special Study released this week, Oklahoma was ranked #1 in the United States regarding state readiness for drone commerce.\u00c2\u00a0 In \u201cIs Your State Ready for Drone Commerce?<\/a>\u201d Brent Skorup identified the strengths and improvement markers presented by George Mason University and compiled a state-by-state scorecard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the best place for drone commerce to grow is\nOklahoma, according to Skorup. “They do a lot of things right,”\nSkorup told POLITICO, adding that the state already has a drone program office\nup and running. That office was established in 2021 by the Oklahoma Legislature\nand placed within the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission through Senate Bill\n659.  Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) has\nseen an exponential increase in popularity within Oklahoma over the last 10 to\n15 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe innovation of this new flying machine has been\ntransformational for the aviation industry in many regards but has also\nprovided benefits to a multitude of non-aviation industries as well.  Both the government and private sectors have\ntaken advantage of UAS and will continue to do so as the regulatory environment\nat the state and federal level permits,\u201d said State Director of Aeronautics\nGrayson Ardies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oklahoma legislators have been forward-thinking about all\nthings unmanned before it was trendy for states to create UAS-friendly\npolicies. An interim study was held in the summer of 2020 where experts from\nacross the country testified regarding current best practices in their states\nand presented ideas for how Oklahoma could ascend as a leader in the unmanned\nand advanced air mobility industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those expert presenters showed that Oklahoma could use a\nsingle-point entity in state government that can be responsible for creating a\ncohesive coalition of partners that involve the state\u2019s various UAS assets. The\nstate had been missing that energizing force or organization that merged the\nentirety of resources of the state (research, education, operations, economic\ndevelopment, regulatory, etc.) ensuring the focus as a state on the next big\nUAS policy initiative, test site opportunity, federal grant funding, or similar\nprogram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOklahoma Aeronautics has emerged as the entity to serve as\nthe state\u2019s knowledge resource to assist fellow state agencies, local\nmunicipalities, law enforcement and first responders, educators, and others\nwith current policies and regulations, best operational practices, technology\ncapabilities, acquisitions, and similar items,\u201d said Doug Wood, UAS Program\nManager for Oklahoma Aeronautics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another policy effort to give UAS a lift in the Sooner\nstate, Senate Bill 1688, which became law in 2020, created the Advanced\nMobility Program Advisory Council within the Oklahoma Department of\nTransportation and directed the Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation to appoint\na nine-member council to provide recommendations on policy and regulatory\nissues related to the adoption of advanced mobility technologies. Ardies serves\non the Advanced Mobility Program Advisory Council as well as several other\nindustry leaders including James Grimsley, Executive Director of Advanced\nTechnology Initiatives for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo date, many states have approached emerging\ntransportation technologies narrowly through an economic development lens.\nAlthough economic development and viability are important to the adoption of\nthese technologies, it is important to balance economic development interests\nwith broader societal needs and concerns. The Oklahoma Advanced Mobility Pilot\nProgram recognizes the important role of communities and tribal governments in\nthe adoption of emerging transportation technologies and ensures that a diverse\nset of stakeholders are involved in the critical review and analysis of policy\nissues,\u201d said Grimsley.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oklahoma leaders consistently give assurances that their\nefforts are an opportunity to create unity and organization amongst those that\nare involved in the UAS industry at the state government level. \u201cWe want to be\nthe coalescing force to bring all of the state\u2019s UAS assets together as we can\ndo more as a group than we can individually,\u201d said Ardies. \u201cThe Mercatus study\nis great recognition of what UAS entities in the state have been able to\naccomplish thus far and we are excited to see all of the possibilities that lie\nahead for the state with this new technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find supportive documents and the article by Brent Skorup, \u201cIs Your State Ready for Drone Commerce? The 2022 State-by-State Scorecard,<\/a>\u201d Mercatus Special Study, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Arlington, VA, June 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a Mercatus Special Study released this week, Oklahoma was ranked #1 in the United States regarding state readiness for drone commerce.\u00c2\u00a0 In \u201cIs Your State Ready for Drone Commerce?\u201d Brent Skorup identified the strengths and improvement markers presented by George Mason University and compiled a state-by-state scorecard. Currently, the best place for drone commerce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oklahoma","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22651,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650\/revisions\/22651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}