GA-ASI’s RPA training facility breaks ground

13th November 2015 - 15:30 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Construction is now underway for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ (GA-ASI’s) new RPA training facility at Grand Sky Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) business and aviation park in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

The five-and-a-half acre facility is being built to provide safe and effective flight training for aircrew operating the company’s aircraft. Training for GA-ASI aircrew is set to begin early next year, followed by international customer training.

The training programmes will leverage US government-approved syllabi, and GA-ASI plans to partner with a local university and draw on the expertise of leaders in the training and simulation industry to facilitate the academic and ground-based training programmes. Concurrently, flight operations at the academy will support flight training, research and development, and commercial applications.

The academy will also potentially serve to augment USAF training programmes. The facility is co-located with the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which also serves as the base of operations for US Department of Homeland Security/Customs and Border Protection Predator B aircraft and North Dakota Air National Guard MQ-1 Predator A aircraft.

Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI, said: ‘Today’s groundbreaking of our new state-of-the-art training facility continues to elevate GA-ASI’s partnership with North Dakota. We look forward to the completion of this construction project which will allow us to meet growing worldwide demand for RPA training and conduct airspace integration testing.’