New local aerospace industry to draw on MSU expertise

Contact: Maridith Geuder

A new Starkville manufacturing facility announced Wednesday [Oct. 27] will draw on the expertise of Mississippi State University's Raspet Flight Research Laboratory.

Aurora Flight Sciences, of Manassas, Va., will build unmanned aerial vehicles in an operation expected to generate 300 jobs and provide an economic impact of more than $45 million over the next four years. The company expects to roll out the first vehicle next January, built at the Raspet Flight Lab as an interim facility, and to construct a new 65,000-square-foot manufacturing facility near the Golden Triangle Regional Airport that will open in 2006.

The new effort was announced in ceremonies at the Raspet Lab, with Reps. Roger Wicker and Chip Pickering [R-Miss.] and company president John S. Langford joining MSU President Charles Lee.

"With Aurora's decision to join our community, with American Eurocopter now in production at GTR, and with MSU's nationally prominent centers and institutes such as Raspet Flight Lab, we can foresee over the next decade a broader array of opportunities in technological areas such as aeorospace, transportation, energy, and vehicles for defense," Lee said.

Established more than 50 years ago, the Raspet Lab has a longstanding expertise in lightweight composite technology and sailplane aerodynamics. The lab currently has a $3 million federal defense grant to design a new-generation unmanned aerial vehicle that could strengthen U.S. battlefield surveillance capabilities.

"Today, with the Raspet Flight Research Lab, American Eurocopter, and now Aurora Flight Sciences, the Golden Triangle area is an emerging leader in the aerospace research and manufacturing markets," Wicker said. "We are well positioned in the Congress and through the resources in this region to continue developing this enormous potential."

Founded in 1989 to develop affordable unmanned aerial vehicles for NASA's global atmospheric change research, Aurora also specializes in the military applications of UAVs. The company has developed core capabilities in UAV design and rapid prototyping, composite aerostructures manufacturing and flight operations.

Pickering noted in particular the military capabilities of the Hunter II vehicles that will be manufactured in the Golden Triangle facility. "I am proud that Mississippians will be building the aircraft that protect our troops and hunt down those who would seek to harm the United States," he said.

The Hunter II is designed for long-endurance missions and will supply real-time sensory and imagery intelligence and an unmanned strike capability.

For more information about the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, see www.ae.msstate.edu/rfrl. For more information about Aurora Flight Sciences, see www.aurora.aero .