Lockheed Martin has agreed to provide the University of North Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Science with access to an unmanned aerial vehicle. Bruce Smith, dean of the school, says Lockheed would make an operational UAV available for test flights as early as this spring. This will fit in nicely with the school’s new UAV center of excellence, not to mention the UAV mission that awaits Grand Forks Air Force Base. The Odegard School also has applied to the state for a $3.4 million research grant that officials say it would use to expand unmanned research at the school “to promote private sector UAV-industry job growth in Grand Forks.”
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.