General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., held its groundbreaking ceremony on November 9 for a training academy. Their facility plans to begin training UAS flight crews at Grand Sky in 2016.
GA-ASI is a leading manufacturer of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems, radars and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions. The company will use the training academy and accompanying hangars to support its RPA aircraft operations. Training at the academy will begin as soon as mid-2016. GA-ASI expects to train up to 60 RPA flight crews each year at the Grand Sky facility, including internal crews as well as GA-ASI customers from around the world. The company has signed a 10-year lease for 5.5 acres at Grand Sky, with options to extend the lease for an additional 20 years.
“We are thrilled to welcome General Atomics to the park and excited to support the continued advancement of the UAS industry at this state-of-the-art training facility,” says Thomas Swoyer, Jr., president of Grand Sky Development Co. “This training academy is a great example of the capabilities offered at Grand Sky and the enormous potential it offers to help tenants move forward with their missions.”
Grand Sky now boasts two of the largest UAS manufacturers in the world as tenants. Anchor tenant Northrop Grumman held a groundbreaking for its facility on Oct. 15, 2015. The park, which itself just officially broke ground on Sept. 10, 2015, is ahead of pace to meet its goal of fully leasing the park’s 1.2 million square feet of space by 2025. Swoyer says the combination of full security, uncongested airspace, access to the Grand Forks Air Force Base runway and North Dakota’s FAA test site, along with a strong and growing UAS-focused research community and workforce, make Grand Sky a unique attraction for companies working with UAS.
