Leading UAS Centers Enter Agreement to Share Facilities & Services

Near Space Corporation (Tillamook UAS) and UAS Denmark Test Center have entered into a cooperative agreement to share facilities and services with their mutual customers. 

The agreement between the companies will offer customers the ability to operate under a single commercial contract and currency for the duration of their testing at either location. Efficiencies in logistics and flight planning will be achieved with the common connections and processes being shared between flight operations teams on both continents. The goal is to give the customer an efficient and high-quality path to certification and marketing of their new unmanned systems.

Both locations offer a dedicated Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) test range in a discrete location where critical testing and demonstrations can be conducted in a safe and controlled environment. Both organizations offer a full suite of services and experienced flight operations personnel that can be utilized and customized to the needs of the aircraft developer, OEM, or operational user. 

The teams’ respective expertise in the EU and United States, joined with collaborative process and interoperability, offers those needing to test and operate on both sides of the Atlantic with an efficient solution. 

Kevin Tucker (President, Near Space Corporation) believes the two organizations share common unique attributes: “Both UAS Denmark and our test range are managed by professionals with decades of experience at operations of UAS in both military and commercial aviation operations; expertise in complex operations; common safety practices, and both are perfectly situated with geography to transition quickly from terrestrial to marine  operations, allowing customers to test their capabilities to land on vessels at sea or conduct surveillance and security operations with their drones and advanced sensors.”

UAS Denmark Head of Business Development, Michael Larsen, also sees the continuity between the organizations helping customers fast-track their airframes to marketability: “We see this as a fantastic opportunity for some of our European aircraft OEMs to have a seamless process to migrate their testing and certification from the EU into North America and under the purview of the FAA. We have extensive knowledge and experience conducting Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) operations off the coast of Denmark — with Near Space offering a wealth of knowledge and real-world experience safely operating drones from very high altitudes to validate emerging systems for the FAA and NASA. Customers will benefit by having a well-coordinated team on either side of the Atlantic to manage their flight testing as a turn-key solution, or as an ‘ala carte’ service and utilized on an as-needed basis.”