The ACEA and the NARTP entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S.
Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). USTRANSCOM is responsible for providing the Department of Defense with transportation by air, land, and sea during both times of peace and war.
Under the CRADA, the four organizations are working in partnership to develop a dual-use (civil/military) “Highway in the Sky” to test and evaluate Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS/drones) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) technologies. (See *AAM description below).
The UAS/AAM Test Range aims to connect Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey with Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. A proof-of-concept "Command Center" for the Test Range is currently under development. Both the Command Center and the UAS/AAM Test Range are anticipated to become operational in 2025.
“Establishing a UAS/AAM Test Range will attract new jobs in research and development, supporting both civil and military applications of these emerging aviation technologies,” said Lauren Moore, President of the ACEA.
AAM is an air transport system concept integrating new, transformational aircraft designs and flight technologies into existing and modified airspace operations.
The objective of AAM is to move people and cargo between places more effectively, especially in currently underserved local, regional, urban, and rural environments. The AAM concept creates innovative, yet cost-effective aircraft with a low carbon footprint. Many AAM vehicles are highly automated and designed to navigate from point-to-point without a human operator aboard. Most of the designs fall into one or more of these types: Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL); Electric Conventional Take-Off and Landing (eCTOL); and Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (sUAS).