The state of Alaska seems like an unlikely place for a thriving drone industry.  For one thing, Alaska is the windiest state in the nation, not the most favorable weather condition for drone flying.  Furthermore, the state’s severe cold can make it difficult for battery-powered drone engines to function consistently.  Not surprisingly, the Wolverine State ranks 33rd on the Mercatus Center’s list of states most friendly to drone commerce – far behind more moderately windy, cold weather states in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes Region.

But Alaska has at least one major competitive advantage over most other US states:  an FAA-approved drone “sandbox” – or flight laboratory – that allows commercial enterprises and government agencies to expedite the development and testing of new drone technologies and to experiment with integrating manned and unmanned aircraft into a single air traffic management system – a top FAA priority.

The state’s center of drone innovation – known as the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) – is located at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, deep in the Alaskan interior (where winds and rains are less intense).  Its foundation was actually laid way back in 2001, but over the past two decades, its infrastructure – and federal mandate – has continued to grow and expand, culminating in the FAA’s designation of the ACUASI as one of just 7 such sites operating nationwide.

Each of these elite sites – including ones based in upstate New York, Las Vegas, NV and Corpus Christi, TX – has a slightly different mission and orientation that suits its operating environment and capabilities.  Alaska’s ACUASI has a special focus on drone flying in the Arctic Circle, where operational challenges are formidable, and on cutting-edge technology to support the development of deep sea drones, many of them adapted to clandestine warfare missions.

But the very latest ACUASI flight testing – which the center is showcasing publicly – deals with dual use technology for unmanned cargo drones.  The UAVs in question are actually fixed wing aircraft like the Cessna Grand Caravan that the center has retrofitted to function as autonomous cargo – and potentially, passenger – drones.

So far, the ACUASI has flown 25 pilot-less missions between Fairbanks and outlying rural areas, using remote guidance systems and digital flight tracking.  The 25 flights – all highly successful – were conducted in partnership with Events Cargo Air and Boston-based Merlin Labs, which specializes in autonomous aviation technology.  Iris Automation, a pioneer in the development of obstacle avoidance technology, also participated in the trials which have lasted a modest 60 hours thus far.

Support for the ACUASI – and for the latest Cessna trails – comes from the highest levels of the Alaskan government.  Just two weeks ago, the center sponsored a major industry conference attended by Alaska officials, including senior US Senator Lisa Murkowski, a huge drone supporter who sits on several important Senate subcommittees that provide oversight to the US transportation and aviation industries.  Alaska University President gave the closing statement, noting: Our state has extraordinary expanses of land areas where you have minimal or no population at all that can help support the testing of a wide variety of surface and airborne autonomous systems.  If you can pioneer a system to survive Alaska and all that we have here, you can be pretty confident that it’s going to be effective just about anywhere else that it may be deployed.”

Despite its national prominence, Alaska still has a long way to go to match the levels of support for drone commerce found elsewhere.  The state still does not permit unrestricted drone flights over state and local roads – sometimes referred to as drone “highways” or “corridors” – and restrictions on flights over private property are still subject to local nuisance laws that tend to discourage businesses – as well as public safety agencies – from exploiting drone technology to the fullest.  As a result, the job market for drone pilots, engineers, mechanics and data analysts, while growing, is still relatively small.

But Alaska’s support for the federal drone mandate, coupled with its commitment to commercial cargo delivery, is likely to add to pressures in the state to expand the regulatory and legal framework to support drone commerce.   Last year, Alaska moved up from #38 in the Mercatus rankings.  If current trends hold, expect a much bigger jump in 2024.

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