Oneida County Awarded $2.5 million in NASA Tasks

Will include vehicle demonstrations, flight simulations and data collection

Oneida County has been awarded $2.5 million in additional task orders through its NASA contract with Griffiss International Airport.

The task orders — which are to be completed over the next year — each have unique objectives, related to the integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system of the United States.

“Our test site at Griffiss International Airport continues to be a catalyst for technological advancement and the epicenter for crucial research for the UAS industry,” said Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. “These additional task orders are proof positive of our productive partnership with NASA and a testament to the vital work we are accomplishing together.”

The first task order calls for NASA to assess individual vehicle technology as state-of-the-art through a test site concept of operations. The Griffiss Test Site will be required to perform state-of-the-art vehicle demonstrations across one or more unique UAS operating environments identified by NASA.

The second task order requires the Griffiss Test Site to implement hardware and software solutions to collect data required for unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) research. The major activity for this task order will be a series of flight demonstrations utilizing actual and possible simulated operations.

“These two NASA task order awards are further indication that the work we and our test site partners are performing here in Oneida County for NASA and the UAS industry has not gone unnoticed,” said Oneida County Aviation Commissioner Russell Stark. “We look forward to our continued support of the NASA UTM and the NASA UAS-NAS efforts and the additional technical capability level testing that remains.”

Demonstration dates for the task orders have yet to be set.