Congressman Mike Turner (OH-3) announced that Sinclair Community College has been selected to conduct Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Research at the Springfield Air National Guard Base. Turner worked with members of the House Committee on Transportation to create UAS research sites in the FAA reauthorization bill passed by Congress in February. The final language established six UAS testing sites in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill.
“I was proud to join Sinclair at the ribbon cutting for their new UAS facility on their campus. This selection will help further the research at Sinclair, and will help provide new educational opportunities for students in our community. This latest development adds momentum to our efforts to expand UAS research in our region. I look forward to continuing to work with Sinclair on this important endeavor,” said Turner.
Turner also successfully added similar language to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which was signed into law in late December 2011. The conference committee of House and Senate members expanded the amount of testing sites that Turner requested from four to six in this final legislation, and cited Turner’s NDAA language in support of the testing sites to be named by the FAA Administrator. The language advocates for Southwest Ohio facilities such as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Wilmington Air Park to be considered as designated testing sites for UAS research.
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