It's a 'Grand Sky' for BVLOS UAS Flights

Beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights have begun with large UAS at the Grand Sky UAS park in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Grand Sky is co-located with the Grand Forks United States Air Force (USAF) base, replete with access to a 12,351-foot runway, uncongested airspace, 300 days of suitable flying weather annually, and the Air Force's ample radar facilities. Current tenants include Northrop Grumman and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

Grand Sky Development president Thomas Swoyer, Jr. said the company is in discussion with several other prospective tenants for the 217-acre  Grand Sky location and that the company is also in the process of setting up similar facilities at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, and at the Laramie, Wyoming airport. While a facility located adjacent to a military base has appeal to defense-related tenants, it is not necessary for all prospective commercial clients, Swoyer said, emphasizing that access to runways at general aviation or commercial airports with lower traffic volumes and uncongested airspace is the key to replicating the Grand Sky model elsewhere. He thinks the time is ripe to do so.

“We believe that the industry is really going to take off. Economies of scale are going to become better. The efficacy of the equipment will become better. When we can start to fly large UAS over large areas with the persistent intelligence gathering capability of those aircraft, that's what we really need with respect to emergency management, energy, agriculture, infrastructure inspection, we really need that persistent, beyond-line-of-sight capability,” he told AIN. “Commercial large UAS applications is where the future is.”

Air Operations Growing

Grand Sky began air operations in 2016, with General Atomics as the main flier, expanding flight operations to 24/7, Swoyer said. Currently Northrop Grumman has a building with laboratories, simulators, and computer modeling on site and is constructing a hangar of sufficient size to house two large Global Hawk UAVs that will be completed in 2019. General Atomics has a permanent hangar with office space and a temporary fabric hangar to handle its growing operations. General Atomics is in the process of expanding its footprint on the site from 5.5 to 20 acres. The company operates a flight test and training center in Grand Forks, with flight operations taking place at Grand Sky, in addition to other research activities. It intends to use its expanded footprint at Grand Sky to support UAS aircraft and sensor testing, training, and development activities.

The Air Force leased all the required land to Grand Forks County, which in turned subleased it to Grand Sky in an arrangement Swoyer refers to as a public-public-private partnership. Funds obtained from the State of North Dakota paid for land-side improvements such as ramps, driveways, and taxiways. Grand Sky paid for a separate hard perimeter and camera and electronic security with state funds and pays for security guards. “You don't have to be able to get on base to get into Grand Sky. We manage who can get in, “ said Swoyer. 

Small UAS taking off from Grand Sky flies in Class D air space at its own risk checking in with the Grand Forks tower; outside that space chase planes escort UAS up to 18,000 feet after which the UAS is under the control of FAA ATC. “Our goal is to manage this as a normal airport operation working with FAA air traffic control, but because we are taking off from an air force base, the air force does have some control requirement until we pass off to the FAA,” Swoyer said. He added that the large radar coverage in the area makes it ideal for UAS deconfliction for BVLOS operations, initially out to 30 miles, as that corresponds with the Air Force's air traffic control space. Swoyer said the coverage area should be able to expand to 60 miles “in short order” and that the Air Force radar is the primary means of deconfliction, accompanied by radio communications and maneuver. Swoyer said eventually flights could be “hopscotched” by tying into other FAA radars. He credits Grand Sky's relationship with the Northern Plains Unmanned Systems Authority, one of six FAA UAS test sites, with making Grand Sky successful to date. Swoyer also said Grand Sky has a looser relationship with the University of North Dakota but expects to work with the university on future projects.