Skyborne Technology, Inc. expanded its Gulf County footprint this week.
The
developer, designer and manufacturer of manned and unmanned aviation
systems, which established its first United States facility last fall in
Gulf County, announced that it had purchased Costin Airport in Port St.
Joe for an undisclosed sum.
The airport will be
used by Skyborne for flight operations, manufacturing and training
pilots in unmanned systems, according to a press release.
And,
along the way, Skyborne Technology found a partner in Unmanned Systems,
Inc., a manufacturer of unmanned systems and drones which will be
moving a portion of its manufacturing and training to Gulf County.
“Skyborne
Technology and Unmanned Systems will help build employment in Gulf
County to further develop the educational needs in high tech manned and
unmanned systems,” said Don Bintz, President of Unmanned Systems.
The airport purchase is just another step in the expansion of
Skyborne, which after Hurricane Michael has become something of the
“good news people for our county,” said Jim McKnight, executive director
of the county Economic Development Coalition.
McKnight
said that earlier in the week he had visited the Skyborne facility at
the Dalkeith Industrial Park, which the company opened last September,
and noted three Gulf County employees already at work building drones.
“Skyborne
Technology staying the course of developing facilities and operations
in both ends of the county has been a beacon of hope during our
community’s response to and recovery from Hurricane Michael,” McKnight
said.
There is also a strong link between Skyborne’s
efforts, along with the partnership with Unmanned Systems, and
educational programs in the county’s public schools and Gulf Coast State
College.
Gulf District Schools has received Triumph
Gulf Coast, Inc. funding to establish a high school program path toward
certification in operation of unmanned systems, or drones.
Officials
with Skyborne have indicated their interest in being part of getting
that program off the ground, seeing it as a source for training
opportunities and adding to its workforce.
Gulf
Coast State College, with a new technology building arising in recent
years, has also focused considerable attention on training students for
advanced aviation systems.
The college has become a formal educational partner of Skyborne.
“The
co-location in our community of these two manufacturing leaders in the
unmanned aerial vehicle arena provides an unprecedented opportunity for
the citizens of Gulf County,” said John Holdnak, President of Gulf Coast
State College.
“In conjunction with the related
training opportunities under development in the local high schools, and
underway at Gulf Coast, these companies are poised to fully develop and
deploy these transformational technologies, becoming a magnet for high
tech opportunity in the region.”
Skyborne initially chose Gulf County as the site for its first U.S. facility for a variety of reasons.
The
use of the aviation technology dovetails with the military missions in
the region and political support, state and local, as well local assets,
particularly plenty of water, were in place to facilitate the move for a
company that has facilities in Central America and South America.
The expansion to Costin Airport has from the outset seemed a natural fit.
“We
are looking forward to the upcoming airship and drone test flights at
Costin Airport as this is strategic for our customer base in Central
America and the Caribbean as a one-stop shop for inspection of the
technologies,” said Dr. Carlos Arzu, President of Skyborne Central
America.
Skyborne is at the cutting edge of aviation systems, designing and
developing manned, i.e. tethered, and unmanned technology with
underwater applications.
Through a series of mergers
the company was able to marry varying technologies, with the potential
for integration, under one roof and process, Lawson said.
“The
uniqueness of our design is that we’ve combined multiple designs,”
Lawson said. “The technology is proven. It just needed to be organized
into a company that can use that technology (at its potential).”
In considering the products, Lawson said, conjure to mind a mother ship in the air on a tether or extremely long line.
That
mother ship, in turn, contains any number of drones which can be
deployed, in the air and underwater, for a variety of applications.
One
major application is agricultural assessment and the technology is also
used in assessing power grids and a host of monitoring applications.
Lawson
said the company is also working on applications to create a drone
which would identify and eliminate “bad drones” which other companies
and countries are developing.
By Tim Croft / The Port St. Joe Star