Which of the 50 US  states has the most advanced drone industry?  The answer may surprise you: Oklahoma.  Ranked #3 by the Fairfax, VA-based Mercatus Center in 2021, the Sooner State jumped to #1 year, and continues to receive top billing.  Over the past decade, expanding federal contract and grant  support to Oklahoma’s Choctaw and Osage Native American Nations has transformed Oklahoma into a design laboratory for a wide range of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) platforms – everything from extreme weather event forecasting to autonomous farm management and infrastructure inspections.  Oklahoma has also become a leading test site for the Federal Aviation Administration’s planned integration of unmanned and manned aircraft operations into a comprehensive national air traffic management system.  No other state can claim such a central role in the furtherance of America’s ambition to achieve and maintain UAV strategic superiority worldwide in the years to come

While the Choctaw and Osage Nations serve as sponsors and hosts for the AAM testing programs, the actual research in Oklahoma is being conducted through a series of research partnerships with the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Unmanned Research Strategy Institute and the DronePort Network, a coalition of drone industry stakeholders.  ODU-URSI occupies something of a unique niche in the national aerospace world because its facilities combine drone navigation and propulsion research with aircraft design and prototype flight testing.  No other center offers such a  full-spectrum of drone capabilities in a single location, which gives Oklahoma a technology edge – and research funding advantage – it will likely retain for years to come.

In fact, Oklahoma is just warming up.  Last December, the state  announced its intent to establish a 114-mile long “drone corridor” between Tulsa and other cities and towns to the northwest.  A  drone corridor – sometimes dubbed a drone “superhighway” – creates dedicated airspace in which drone companies can conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations in various commercial niches with the hope that the FAA will extend regulatory approval for these operations throughout the state, and eventually nationwide.

Oklahoma’s new drone corridor is only the second in the nation and by far the longest.  It’s more than twice the length of the FAA-managed 50-mile NUAIR corridor located in upstate New York.  Funding for the $38.2 million project is being provided by the US Economic development Administration’s Build Back Better Rescue Plan, part of the Biden’s administration’s broad strategy for post-COVID 19 economic recovery.  In fact, Oklahoma’s new superhighway was one of just 21 projects nationwide designated as a 2023 White House priority – a further sign of the state’s preeminent position in the burgeoning US drone industry.

The corridor and Oklahoma’s related drone projects – which include small business development and STEM training programs to support the Osage and Choctaw nations directly – are expected to result in 30-40,000 new jobs—the equivalent of $3.5-5 billion in economic activity—over the first 2-3 years.

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