Marty Gordon
Virginia Tech continues to be a big part of the defense of the United States and Thursday a ribbon was cut on a new UAS Test and Research Center at Kentland Farms.
The school’s National Security Institute has spent the past year building the facility to address what officials describe as a fast-evolving and underestimated threat.
University President Tim Sands, 9th District Congressman Morgan Griffith and U.S. Senator Mark Warner attended the ceremony.
The center will focus on testing drones, developing counter-unmanned aerial systems, and building next-generation sensors capable of detecting, tracking and identifying aerial threats — work that researchers say is increasingly urgent as drone technology reshapes modern warfare.
Griffith said southwest Virginia has a long tradition of supporting our nation’s defense.
“The Counter-UAS Testing and Research Center at Virginia Tech will bolster American drone defense capabilities,” he said.
The site at Virginia Tech includes outdoor, indoor, and virtual testing laboratories, a network of drone detection sensors, and a drone library.
Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) and Virginia Tech’s National Security Institute (VTNSI) are partnering with the U.S. Army to operate the facility where the nation’s detection systems can be tested, evaluated and improved.
Warner and Griffith pointed to the importance of such a facility.
“One of our biggest vulnerabilities is counter drone activities and this kind of experimentation is extraordinarily important for our defense and protection of the nation,” Warner said. “We also have to make sure that we use unmanned systems in an effective, efficient way and I can’t think of a better way to do that kind of testing and experimentation than here Leave quote unchanged — do not alter direct quotation”
“This project allows the United States to be ready for attacks on our homeland or overseas conflicts,” Griffith said. “And, this facility will make Virginia one of the best places to do that kind of research and to have us prepared.”
Easy to buy, build, and fly, drones are changing the way that wars are fought around the world. Drones can be used for both surveillance and attack, posing a major threat to soldiers, law enforcement, and critical infrastructure.
On top of their ubiquitous nature, technologies have evolved to allow drones to fly undetected by radio frequency detection systems and at extremely high speeds — sometimes as fast as 200 miles per hour, according to Tombo Jones, director of MAAP.
“This makes them extremely hard to detect, identify, and defeat,” Jones said.
Although there are multiple counter-UAS testing sites around the country, Virginia Tech’s is unique because it combines MAAP’s expertise in aviation testing and evaluation with VTNSI’s expertise in applied national security research, according to Austin Phoenix, director of the Mission Systems Division at VTNSI.
The MAAP is one of nine Federal Aviation Administration designated UAS test sites and has a proven track record over the last decade of partnering with government agencies, developing a deep expertise in evaluating counter-UAS systems.
The Virginia Tech National Security Institute is home to some of the nation’s top research faculty in autonomy, spectrum dominance, cyber security and resilience, artificial intelligence, test and evaluation, and machine learning, among other critical national security focused research areas.
“The new center is unique in terms of the breadth of counter-UAS challenges that we’re able to tackle at a single site,” Phoenix said. “And that brings together an opportunity for fundamental research to be matured and integrated into real world systems to rapidly advance the state of the art.”
The center marks more than a year’s worth of work since the project was first announced in May 2025 with a $5 million award from the U.S. Army Futures Command Combat Capabilities Development Command C5ISR Center.
