The Michigan Unmanned Aerial Systems Consortium (MUASC) is an Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Flight and Ground Test Center located at the Alpena County Regional Airport, Alpena, Michigan and is registered as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization under section 501 (c) (3). The consortium has a teaming agreement with the Griffiss FAA Test site at Oneida County in New York. MUASC is a test range for Griffiss and is part of the NUAIR Alliance. The relationship gives our clients access to the same prioritized FAA approval processes as the six FAA UAS Test Sites and the support of the entire Griffiss / NUAIR team.
MUASC offers 11,000 square miles of Airspace dedicated to Research & Development, Certification, Qualification and Systems testing for Commercial UAS. It includes a Military Operations Area (MOA) that belongs to the Air National Guard, with over 30% of airspace extending over Lake Huron.
The Test Center offers a large spectrum of opportunities for Commercial UAS manufacturers, operators and organizations performing R&D. Much of MUASC is open airspace and a good portion of it is highly suitable for long range, medium altitude UAS. The area around the airport and other specific locations offer space that cater to smaller UAS operating within Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Beyond-Line-of-Sight (BLOS) of the operator, hence offering a large gamut of options for UAS operators wishing to perform UAS testing in Michigan.
We now have the capability of performing our services anywhere in the state of Michigan, and beyond, through the Griffiss national blanket Certificate of Authorization (COA). The COA combined with access to a mobile command and control vehicle through one of consortium partners, allows us to meet our client’s needs in a variety of locations. You will also notice we have access to several commercial platforms clients could find useful for testing sensors, software or processes.