Unmanned aircraft builder Sabrewing has signed a 10-aircraft, $43 million deal with Alaska’s Aleut Community of St. Paul Island (ACSPI) to deliver a mix of its Rhaegal and Wyvern cargo aircraft. As part of the agreement, the ACSPI is creating the largest aircraft test range on the Bering Sea, centered about the island. St. Paul is located approximately 230 miles to the north of Unalaska-Dutch Harbor and 770 miles west of Anchorage.
Sabrewing will provide equipment and training to allow the ACSPI to operate the test range complex, known as the St. Paul eXperimental Test Range (SPxTR) Complex (“Spectre Complex”). The company will use SPxTR to conduct research, development, and FAA certification qualification on its aircraft designs. “It’s the best large UAV test range that I’ve seen in the 31 years that I’ve been testing and certifying aircraft,” said Ed De Reyes, CEO of Sabrewing Aircraft Company. Sabrewing will also provide the test equipment, telemetry, and remote operations and telemetry stations to allow the ACSPI to operate the test complex for other customers besides Sabrewing.
Sabrewing and ACSPI are creating a joint venture (JV) corporation to provide UAV pilot training, maintenance and dispatcher training, and aircraft replacement and spare parts. The JV provides a vehicle for military and government contracting and to bid on Defense Department contracts directly. Sabrewing will build and sell (or lease) its cargo aircraft to commercial customers, and the JV will train the aircraft’s remote operators, mechanics and dispatchers. “We’ve been discussing the possibility of using pilots trained by the University of Alaska-Anchorage to train new pilots to a commercial/instrument-pilot level of competency, after which we would then train them to operate our aircraft,” said De Reyes.
Unmanned aircraft builder Sabrewing has signed a 10-aircraft, $43 million deal with Alaska’s Aleut Community of St. Paul Island (ACSPI) to deliver a mix of its Rhaegal and Wyvern cargo aircraft. As part of the agreement, the ACSPI is creating the largest aircraft test range on the Bering Sea centered about the island. Sabrewing will provide equipment and training to allow the ACSPI to operate the test range complex, known as the St. Paul eXperimental Test Range (SPxTR) Complex (“Spectre Complex”).
Sabrewing will use SPxTR to conduct research, development, and FAA certification qualification on its aircraft designs. Sabrewing will also provide the test equipment, telemetry, and remote operations and telemetry stations to allow the ACSPI to operate the test complex for other customers besides Sabrewing.
Sabrewing and ACSPI are creating a joint-venture corporation to provide UAV pilot training, maintenance and dispatcher training, and aircraft replacement and spare parts. The joint venture provides a vehicle for military and government contracting and to bid on Defense Department contracts directly. Sabrewing will build and sell (or lease) its cargo aircraft to commercial customers, and the joint venture will train the aircraft’s remote operators, mechanics, and dispatchers.