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Skyway36 readies for drone testing influx

With funds from a $51 million grant, ongoing multi-site developments, and a newly completed world-class drone testing facility, the Osage reservation has become a “critical node along the nation’s most ambitious UAS testing range.”

Services for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) – commonly called “drones” – were valued at $17 billion in 2023. By 2028, the drone services industry is projected to reach $57.8 billion. That spike is due to industry development forecasting in concert with the expected release of new regulations by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowing companies to operate drones autonomously.

That means drones will be commercially certified to do anything from package delivery to oil drilling inspections, all beyond the line of sight of the operator. The Osage LLC’s Skyway36 is positioned to lead that certification process and help develop software for safe drone flight. This is possible due to a $51 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) for a project called “SAFE-T,” or the Secure Autonomy Feedback Evaluation Testbed.

Because of the EDA grant and a new world-class drone testing facility at Skyway36, a Swiss-based drone testing expert named WindShape is just days away from moving in.

The European drone testing company has developed high-performing fans that can simulate diverse environmental conditions for drone testing. And, in anticipation of their move-in, the Osage LLC and business partners have established Skyway Range, so the company can test drones not only indoors, but outdoors.

Skyway Range is a nonprofit that equips, operates and maintains a flight test range that meets FAA regulations and helps ensure access to testing facilities for start-ups and technologies in the region.

The $51 million is not all going to SAFE-T, however. The sum will be divided amongst several other projects under THETA Tech Hubs. The specific amount to be allocated to SAFE-T has not yet been confirmed. However, Skyway36 Droneport Manager Aaron Baker said Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL), a George Kaiser Family Foundation organization, is the entity determining how the funding will be distributed with the EDA.

“From what I understand TIL and EDA are still working through all of that,” said Baker. The funds allocated to SAFE-T will be used to hire staff for IT support, work on flight operations, project management and facility maintenance, according to Randall Burke, the executive director of Skyway Range. The LLC is also working with Tulsa Innovation Labs, along with Oklahoma State University.

As initial planning for SAFE-T begins, one of the needs will be office space to lease at Skyway36 that doesn’t yet exist. The next new building at Skyway36 will be completed by the end of 2025, according to Baker.

The Osage News took a tour of the new drone testing facility at Skyway36 on Jan. 24, 2025. ECHO REED/Osage News

The Osage are unique

One huge factor in the drone flight industry is a set of regulations awaited from the FAA.

Those regulations were imminently expected, until all rule-making ceased on Monday, Jan. 20. “As of Monday, all rule-making stopped,” said Burke, who has worked in the aerospace industry for 35 years, as well as the FAA.

The Trump administration is examining all activity before regulatory agencies can proceed with regulatory authority, said Burke. Part 108 is the expected set of rules that will determine certification for beyond line of sight and autonomous drone flight and he is not sure how much the new rules will affect Skyway36. “It might be minimal, but [Part 108] will publicize the rules for flying beyond visual line of sight. And that’s what all of these manufacturers ultimately want their vehicle to be able to do,” he said.

“That’s where SAFE-T comes in … creating that cyber autonomous-connecting lab that looks at [drone flight,]” Burke explained. An autonomous monitoring drone flight lab, as Burke calls it, will be connected to drone flight testing within Skyway Range. It will also monitor flight testing in Tulsa, he said. “Ultimately, it’ll be going into urban areas.”  

As a result, the software that Skyway Range develops for drone monitoring might become the industry standard. “That is the hope,” Burke said.

And no other tribes are doing what the Osage are, he added.

Burke is Chickasaw. Along with his colleague Jeremy Wright, chief operations officer at Osage LLC and a Citizen Potawatomi, Burke is inspired by Major General Clarence Tinker.

Osage LLC CEO Russell Goff describes Skyway36 as “extremely unique” among economic development projects. He was particularly impressed with seeing the weekly construction meetings for the WindShape facility, and if all goes according to plan, he will see many more construction meetings in order to meet demand at Skyway36. In addition to the need for SAFE-T offices, Wright gets calls every week from companies wanting to lease from them.

Drone testing

This week, Wright met with a drone parts manufacturer interested in space on-site at Skyway36 so they can work with WindShape customers who come across the need for new drone parts. One of the drone testing rooms at the WindShape facility is specifically designed to break drones, showing testers where the drone models are vulnerable. In the lab subsystem room, vibration tables “shake it until something breaks, falls off, loosens up, … [and] test motors for how long they last before they break,” said Baker.

A neighboring room holds a machine shop, 3D printers, large storage areas, and computer servers and a nearby guest workspace gives clients space to install new parts and tinker with the drones when they aren’t working. As the drones get more durable, customers can fly in ice storms and in below 40 degrees, as well as in extreme winds, all in testing rooms. A wet weather room even has deep drains for flood conditions.

That room required the builders to redo the foundation during construction, as they did in the neighboring test room for extreme cold conditions, which required a great deal of insulation. The manufacturers of special materials needed to create the rooms are based in Oklahoma, underlining the importance of the supply chain aspect in the drone testing industry, Burke said.

In that extreme temperatures room, six inches of insulation under the floor were placed in between two different six-inch layers of concrete. All of that is covered by epoxy, Baker explained. A sliding door with heated edges ensures the room doesn’t lose cold air and also won’t freeze shut. The room reaches temperatures of negative 40 degrees in 45 seconds.

In addition to the advantage of nearby manufacturers specializing in aerospace development, there is also an emphasis on software development. Computers outside the testing rooms at the WindSpace facility will gather data from the testing rooms through the windows, ultimately using that to inform regulators how many hours it takes for a drone to fly safely. “They’ll know, [if] you run that motor for 1,500 hours, you probably need to replace it,” said Burke. 

This spring, a master plan will provide further information on how to continue building out the droneport to attract more tenants. 

Why here?

WindShape decided on coming to the Osage reservation and Tulsa after first considering moving to New York. “When they heard about [us], … they figured out what we already know – that Oklahoma is better than New York,” said Baker.

Per WindShape’s specifications, the facility is security compliant to support Department of Defense contracts. The doors have secure access points leading to a massive 4,800-square-foot hangar at the end of the building.

At the front, doors open to reception and an office space designed to accommodate 20 employees. So far, WindShape has two employees who have relocated to Tulsa. Next to the offices, a set of stairs leads to a conference room. Then, back downstairs, come the testing rooms.

Once drone companies finish testing indoors, they can go out into the environment that the FAA really cares about – the real world. With that opportunity to test first in the hangar surrounded by 20 by 15 feet wind walls for drones with 5-meter-long wingspans, and in a 15 by 10-foot area for conventional drones, the journey from indoors to outdoors is smooth. “They can just fly out [from the hangar] to the range,” said Burke.

Weather sensors around the Osage reservation feed real-time weather data to the WindShape facility, helping drone testers decide the optimal time to go out and fly in real conditions.

In this way, the Osage reservation is a destination for drone flight that is able to compete with Boston and San Francisco and win out.

Skyway 36 Manager Aaron Baker stands inside a testing room at the new WindShape facility on Jan. 24, 2025. ECHO REED/Osage News

New opportunities

While much of the Osage LLC’s work is future-focused, Skyway36 is attractive to the drone industry now.

This week, Wright got a call from a customer who wants to fly at Skyway36 but needs to hire in order to do so. “He wants to bring a bunch of his potential customers here so that they can fly, but he doesn’t have a pilot,” said Wright.

Graduates of the Pathfinders program, which recently removed their age cap from 17 years of age, are eligible for the job.

More opportunities are expected as Skyway36 joins their airspace to the drone testing flight corridor already approved by the FAA. Currently, they have access to fly drones in a 114-nautical mile flight test range in an FAA-approved corridor between Glencoe and Pawnee but they want to add Skyway36, Skyway North, or the portion of the Osage Nation Ranch, and other Osage-owned parcels to that FAA-approved range. When they do so, drones will have longer flight paths for testing beyond visual lines of sight before FAA certification is possible.

Eventually, Wright sees the drone-testing corridor stretching to Tulsa. As WindShape moves in this February, drone testing companies from all over the world are one step closer to being able to test in that multi-scenario environment: indoors in diverse simulations, outside in a rural area, and in Tulsa.

With the advent of daily drone testing at Skyway36, Burke thinks their data will support FAA rule-making toward commercial drone certification. “They’ll know how long it takes,” he said, speaking of the FAA’s need to understand how many hours UAS need to be tested.

The Osage News took a tour of the new drone testing facility at Skyway36 on Jan. 24, 2025. ECHO REED/Osage News

Mentorship program  

Ahead of the SAFE-T grant allocations and the official opening day for WindShape, Skyway Range is doing everything it can to be ready. DronePort Network and Vigilant Aerospace Systems provided a $175,000 airspace management system to Skyway Range, and Burke’s team is working on their drone infrastructure, most recently adding radar to their setup. In addition to their preparations, they are also developing a program for youth.

Local drone clubs will soon see educational offerings from them, Burke said. “There is funding through the Oklahoma Department of Aviation, … it’s a STEM thing of ‘here is a view of all the opportunities in the aviation industry. Our commitment is a recurring contact with [Osage County Public Schools] to help them, you know, develop what they want to hear about.”

That mentorship program is in development.

As the planning continues, Skyway36 is looking toward its next big milestone, a ribbon cutting. Which they hope will be in late spring or early summer.

Until then, the opportunities will continue to develop.

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Chelsea T. Hicks
Chelsea T. Hickshttps://osagenews.org
Title: Staff Reporter
Email: chelsea.hicks@osagenation-nsn.gov
Languages spoken: English
Chelsea T. Hicks’ past reporting includes work for Indian Country Today, SF Weekly, the DCist, the Alexandria Gazette-Packet, Connection Newspapers, Aviation Today, Runway Girl Network, and elsewhere. She has also written for literary outlets such as the Paris Review, Poetry, and World Literature Today. She is Wahzhazhe, of Pawhuska District, belonging to the Tsizho Washtake, and is a descendant of Ogeese Captain, Cyprian Tayrien, Rosalie Captain Chouteau, Chief Pawhuska I, and her iko Betty Elsey Hicks. Her first book, A Calm & Normal Heart, won the 5 Under 35 Award from the National Book Foundation. She holds an MA from the University of California, Davis, and an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
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