Business View Magazine - January 2024

said.“The business community is very welcoming and supportive of bringing these aerospace innovations and local businesses to Oklahoma. Goff could not estimate howmany jobs these facilities would bring to the region but said it would depend on how all this activity develops in the next few years. For now, attracting new businesses to the state will depend on how the Skyway36 project unfolds. “They want to understand what’s happening at Skyway36, what our assets are here at Skyway36 and, and howwe can play into some of the things that those entities are planning to do with their UAS and AAMprograms.They don’t have the same environment that we have. We have an urban environment with Tulsa being just five miles to the south of us, and then we have a very rural, unpopulated area to the north of us that we can operate on. So, if you’re looking at testing interference in your UAS/AAM in an urban environment and testing in a rural environment, this is the place to come.” have to be standing underneath your drone to watch where it goes,” Goff said. “And so, we’ve submitted those waivers.We’ve gotten some feedback on those, and we’re working to provide a response back to the FAA so that we’re hopeful we’ll be able to conduct some initial pilot testing around Skyway36.” While currently focused on unmanned drones, Skyway36 is preparing for the future of UAS, and will be ready for anything that comes its way. Drone technology “will also include advanced air mobility [AAM],” said Aaron Baker, Skyway36 manager. “So, the future of the drone industry includes these air taxis or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft [eVTOLs]. We’re going to be testing operations for those kinds of aircraft as they get developed as well.” “This is primarily going to be for drones as commercial aircraft,” Baker said. “Any mode of unmanned aircraft systems that can be used for research, commercial applications, deliveries, cargo, logistics in DOD applications, so, defense.Along with all of that would be counter drone research. So that that’s another part of it, being able to identify and eliminate unmanned aircraft that are non-cooperative.” Skyway36 has attracted Swiss-based WindShape, which will operate a 19,000-square-foot indoor drone testing facility at the site’s anchoring industrial park. Baker added: “Anybody who builds a drone can come to their facility, they can simulate all kinds of wind phenomena, snow, cold, heat, precipitation. They can test propulsion systems. All they do is going to be contained indoors.” They plan on theWindShape facility being operational this spring. This type of development requires strong relationships with local municipalities. “The support that we have and the political climate in the state of Oklahoma are one of the reasons why WindShape chose to come to Oklahoma over New York, citing the aerospace industry, and the political climate here that’s being created by the support of the governor and other enterprises,” Goff 10 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 11, ISSUE 01