A company is bringing cutting-edge aircraft research to Virginia and the city of Danville’s local airport has a new role in it.
The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems announced this past Thursday the establishment of an Energy-Centric Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center for Critical Infrastructure. It was made possible through a $490,000 grant from the Tobacco Commission.
The center will be a national resource for the development, testing and deployment of energy-resilient unmanned aircraft systems.
“The Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission is proud to invest in initiatives that foster regional innovation while strengthening Virginia’s position as a national leader in energy and unmanned systems,” Tobacco Commission Chairman Del. Will Moorefield said. “The Commission’s Energy Ingenuity Fund was created to drive forward-looking projects like this that connect technology, workforce and infrastructure development.”
The center will design, test and train people to use high-tech drones, including ones that use hydrogen-hybrid fuel to fly for longer periods without a recharge.
Researchers will also test drones that can fly far beyond where the pilot can see them.
Other research will focus on using drones to inspect dangerous infrastructure like power lines or pipelines. The center will train workers how to build, fix and fly these advanced systems.
The center will be based at Richard Bland College with three general aviation airports, including Dan Regional, service as test sites.
“The Energy-Centric UAS Center project demonstrates exactly the kind of cross-agency collaboration and bold thinking the Energy Ingenuity Fund was designed to catalyze,” said James Campos, Executive Director of the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission. “By investing in forward-looking initiatives and partnering with organizations such as CCALS, we are accelerating energy-centric innovation while expanding economic and workforce opportunity throughout the Commission’s footprint.”
According to the center’s web page, they will focus on: planned capabilities, including, hydrogen-hybrid UAS flight testing and infrastructure deployment to advance high-endurance propulsion systems; secure communications and RF/ISAC evaluation environments for spectrum awareness and cyber-physical protection; hydrogen-hydrogen hybrid enable, FAA-compliant Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) testing, training and evaluation; workforce training aligned with FAA, NIST and emerging industry standards; custom program and curriculum development; technology demonstration projects and dual-use prototyping; advanced manufacturing and drone validation programs to strengthen domestic supply chains; Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) modeling, testing, deployment and regulatory alignment to support future integration of sustainable air systems.
The other two small airports that will host some of the research are in Wise and Dinwiddie counties.