Woodbridge, VA, May 26, 2015- The Federal Aviation Administration has selected a coalition of industry leaders, including Momentum Aviation Group (MAG), and research universities to serve as the FAA Center of excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS COE). The UAS COE will focus on research, education, and training in areas critical to safe and successful integration of UAS into the nation’s airspace.

“This team has the capabilities and resources to quickly get up and running to help the FAA address the demands of this challenging technology over the next decade,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in the FAA release about the announcement.

MAG, drawing upon its global experience operating manned and unmanned aircraft systems for governments and commercial clients, provides the ASSURE Coalition real world knowledge and experience on UAS operations, control station layout, certification research projects, command and control, data link testing and implementation, and data integration.

“We are honored to be a partner with Mississippi State University and others in the ASSURE alliance to work with the FAA to normalize UAS operations in the national airspace,” said Matt Bartlett, Executive Vice President.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx stated in the FAA’s release: “This world-class, public-private partnership will help us focus on the challenges and opportunities of this cutting-edge technology, we expect this team will help us to educate and train a cadre of unmanned aircraft professionals well into the future.”

The Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) is comprised of more than a hundred leading industry/government partners and twenty-one of the world’s leading research universities.  ASSURE members are core to three FAA UAS test sites, lead four FAA research centers, have seven airfields and a 340 UAS fleet. For more information about ASSURE, visit http://www.assureuas.org/.

About Momentum Aviation Group
MAG is a leader in providing and enabling global situational awareness to make the world smaller and safer. Privately equity backed by the Clairvest Group, MAG delivers manned aerial sensing (Airborne ISR), unmanned aerial sensing (UAS), aviation training, and aviation logistics services to federal, global, and commercial customers around the world. Please visit www.mag-ds.com for more information.