Conference delegates at Unmanned Systems Canada’s annual conference held at the Westin Edmonton last week, gathered to witness a milestone in the evolution of the Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) industry. At the conference, Transport Canada presented the Mayor of Foremost Alberta with the letter approving the first test range in Canada for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. Canada’s vast remote areas are ideally suited for numerous BVLOS applications. With their vast open terrain and restricted airspace to 18,000 feet the Foremost UAS Range provides the airspace and infrastructure to test the technologies and procedures to accelerate the growth of BVLOS UAS operations. Both Canadian and foreign companies and academic institutions will have the opportunity to develop the next generation of UAV systems to promote the rapidly expanding needs of the oil and gas, mining, agriculture, forestry, environmental and other industrial and security sectors.
Marc Wuennenberg of Transport Canada (3rd left) presented the letter signed by Minister Garneau authorizing the Unmanned Air Systems Range at Foremost AB to begin test operations to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight. Excited to get started is Ken Kultgen, Mayor, Kelly Calhoun, Municipal Administrator and Doug Hanna, UAS Range Manager.
