An agreement to create a test and evaluation corridor for\nthe development of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) and automated Advanced Air\nMobility (AAM) technologies was recently signed by officials representing U.S.\nTransportation Command (USTRANSCOM), Air Mobility Command (AMC), the National\nAerospace Research & Technology Park (NARTP), and the Atlantic County\nEconomic Alliance (ACEA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis agreement is a significant accomplishment and will\ndemonstrate the NARTP\u2019s ability to facilitate aviation research,\u201d said NARTP\nBoard Chairman Mark Loeben, a retired Air Force major general and current\nAmerican Airlines captain. \u201cUSTRANSCOM and AMC are major players in aviation.\nTheir interest in working with the NARTP helps to advance both the development\nof the NARTP and the emerging aviation industry in New Jersey\u2019s Atlantic\nCounty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the terms of the Cooperative Research and Development\nAgreement (CRADA), the parties will cooperatively develop a prototype dual-use\nU.S. East Coast test and evaluation corridor for the demonstration,\ndevelopment, and evaluation of military, commercial, academic, and Federal\nGovernment UAS and AAM technologies with future application to strategic\nairlift capabilities of the U.S. Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UASs are often referred to as drones, while AAM involves the\nuse of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to move people\nand cargo between places not easily served by other modes of transportation.\nBoth UAS and AAM technologies are being developed rapidly by government and\nmilitary agencies and private industry and the testing corridor will help to\nsafely integrate them into the national airspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The availability of the UAS\/AAM evaluation corridor between\nJoint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) in New Jersey and Dover AFB in\nDelaware allows AMC and USTRANSCOM to rapidly assess technical and operational\nconcepts for UAS and AAM, and to develop measures of value in operational\nscenarios. What makes the designated airspace a \u201cdual use\u201d corridor is that the\nCRADA facilitates the launching and landing of civilian craft from non-DOD\nsites within the corridor, including the NARTP. Many of the tests and\nexperiments envisioned would only be possible with a dedicated corridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Howard J. Kyle, NARTP President, thanked all the parties for\ntheir efforts in developing the CRADA. \u201cThe CRADA is an outcome of the NARTP\u2019s\nwork with AMC and FAA on the Airfield Autonomy Initiative (AAI) that involves\nthe testing and demonstration of automated lawn mowing, foreign object debris\nsweeping, and perimeter patrol in both military and civilian airfield\nenvironments.\u201d In early 2023 the NARTP was awarded a $2.249 million\ncongressionally directed spending request to advance AAI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ACEA, the lead agency for economic development in\nAtlantic County, is providing funding for portions of implementing the CRADA\nusing U.S. Economic Development Administration (USEDA) planning grant funds.\nAccording to Lauren Moore, President of the ACEA, \u201cThe CRADA is a significant\nstep forward in the evolution of an Aviation Research Triangle in New Jersey\nthat links JBMDL, the Aviation Innovation Hub in Atlantic County, and the UAS\nwork being done in Cape May County. Opening the airspace for military and\ncivilian UAS\/AAM research will create significant economic development\nopportunities that will benefit the entire state of New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
USTRANSCOM is one of the 11 unified commands of the U.S.\nDepartment of Defense. In both times of peace and war, USTRANSCOM\u2019s role is to\nprovide the DOD with air, land, and sea transportation. USTRANSCOM was founded\nin 1987 and is based at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AMC is a major command of the U.S. Air Force and the air\ncomponent to USTRANSCOM, also headquartered at Scott. It provides unrivaled\nairlift, air refueling, aeromedical evacuation, global air mobility support,\nand Global Mobility Mission Command to project, connect, maneuver, and sustain\nthe Joint Force to achieve national objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NARTP is a key element of New Jersey\u2019s only\nstate-recognized Aviation Innovation Hub, located in Egg Harbor Township, which\nlinks the park to the FAA\u2019s William J. Hughes Technical Center, and Atlantic\nCity International Airport (ACY), a Smart Airport Testbed. Having the Aviation\nInnovation Hub included within the test and evaluation corridor for UAS and AAM\nis critical since the FAA Tech Center is ground zero for issues concerning\nintegration of UAS\/AAM into the national airspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NARTP is catalyzing innovation with an ecosystem of\npartnerships and harnessing the power of collaboration, facilitating research\nand development, innovation, and commercialization of emerging aviation\ntechnologies. NARTP is located on a 58-acre parcel adjoining the Federal\nAviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center, an internationally\nrecognized facility dedicated to research, development, and sustainment of the\nNational Airspace System, and the Atlantic City International Airport, a\ndesignated Smart Airport Research Testbed Facility. NARTP tenants are\nperforming leading research in UAS and AAM technologies, focusing on the safety\nimplications of nascent UAS operational concepts, their testing and\ncertification, as well as the emerging technologies needed to support the\ndevelopment of new regulatory standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An agreement to create a test and evaluation corridor for the development of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) and automated Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) technologies was recently signed by officials representing U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), Air Mobility Command (AMC), the National Aerospace Research & Technology Park (NARTP), and the Atlantic County Economic Alliance (ACEA). \u201cThis agreement […]<\/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":[142,51,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aam-uam","category-new-jersey","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25753","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=25753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25754,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25753\/revisions\/25754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}