An announcement earlier this month by the United States Army could put northern Michigan on the map in a brand-new way.

In an effort “to accelerate research, development, and rapid experimentation for emerging defense technologies like drones,” the Army is opening up five test sites for private companies to test drones or counter-drone technologies. Camp Grayling, located just 50 miles from Traverse City, is one of those sites. According to Traverse Connect President and CEO Warren Call, that designation alone could make northern Michigan one of the premier places in the country to develop, test, manufacture, and commercialize new drone tech.

The goal of the test ranges, per a press release from U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), is to give private industry “access to specialized environments ideal for testing drones, counter-drone technologies, long-range fires, and low-cost interceptors.” Defense industry commentators have theorized that the ranges are part of a campaign to help the U.S. military “catch up with China on drone warfare.” ATEC is the Army branch responsible for testing new equipment for safety and reliability before it is placed into field use.

In addition to Camp Grayling, there are three other test ranges on U.S. soil: Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, and the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Mississippi. The fifth test range is located at the Africa Multidomain Training and Experimentation Center in Morocco.

Camp Grayling is the only site in the Midwest.

Call says the Northsky Consortium – a local alliance working to make Traverse City a national hub for uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and advanced air mobility – played a key role in scoring the test range designation for Camp Grayling. That consortium is jointly spearheaded by Traverse Connect, Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), and 20Fathoms. Working in tandem with the Michigan National Guard, the Michigan Drone Association, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, and elected officials, Call says Northsky spent months “pushing the benefits and capabilities of Camp Grayling” to ATEC, including its four-season weather, its “uncongested airspace,” and its proximity to Traverse City’s “manufacturing legacy.”

The hard sell worked: Camp Grayling was selected, and the Army site is now touting the same “capabilities” Call mentioned, including the “rigorous four-season environment,” restricted airspace up to 23,000 feet, and 200,000 acres of “various terrain.” Companies can now request reservations at Camp Grayling to test everything from drone-on-drone projectile systems to instrumentation like cameras and radar.

Call says the designation could do for the region’s budding drone industry what the new Freshwater Research & Innovation Center is aiming to do for the blue economy.

“We see a big economic development draw to this,” Call says. “Obviously, it's great to be a national test site where cool things are happening, and it’s great to be helping national security. But the U.S. military is not going to build this technology in-house, right? They need to work with the private sector. And so, our goal is to get some of those companies to set up shop here. Let's get the new founder with a great idea connected with 20Fathoms. Let’s create a lot of great career opportunities for NMC grads, and for a bunch of other people to move here.”

“One of the biggest things we hear from founders is that access to realistic testing environments is among the biggest barriers they face in trying to break into these industries,” adds 20Fathoms Executive Director Stacey Feeley. “Having access to a premier U.S. Army test range immediately makes us an exceptionally attractive destination for defense tech, aerospace, and robotics founders nationwide. I think it will drive a lot of capital and lot of top-tier technical talent into northern Michigan.”

The designation also has NMC looking at the next chapter for its UAS program. Scott Dennis, a flight instructor at the college, sees the test range as the first domino to fall in making northern Michigan one of the best places in the country to learn how to fly and use drones. The next domino, he hopes, will be a green light for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. Right now, drone operators aren’t typically allowed to fly their drones beyond their field of vision. BVLOS would significantly expand what drone pilots can use their aircraft for, and Dennis says there are already talks on the federal level to create a BVLOS “corridor” linking Camp Grayling to Traverse City and Alpena.

“At NMC, we're building the curriculum and building the assets to train folks on that piece,” Dennis says of BVLOS. “And once that happens, it’s likely our UAS program will eventually rival if not surpass what is already a huge manned flight program at the college.”

If all goes according to plan, Camp Grayling won’t even be the only high-profile drone testing ground in northern Michigan. Last month, U.S. Senators Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, along with U.S. Representative Jack Bergman and four other Michigan congressional reps, sent a letter to the commandant of the United States Coast Guard, urging him to designate Air Station Traverse City as “the Coast Guard’s premier site for testing autonomous maritime technologies”

“That’s a very parallel and additive designation that we would also like to see,” Call says. “If Air Station Traverse City can be designated as a national drone and autonomous systems testing site for the U.S. Coast Guard nationally, that reinforces what the U.S. military is doing, and it's reinforcing all of the local partners here and the economic development aspects, too. That's a pretty exciting next step.”