State, federal representatives, members of the Maryland National Guard and their families came to Southern Maryland for a ribbon cutting ceremony of the new Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (TUAS) Operations Building aboard Webster Field, late Thursday afternoon, May 14.
Joining the Adjutant General of the Maryland Guard Major General Linda Singh and Assistant Adjutant General – Army for the Maryland National Guard Major General Timothy Gowen were Maryland Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford, State Senator Steve Waugh, state delegates Deb Rey and Anthony O’Donnell as well as a representative from Barbara Mikulski’s office.
Lieutenant Governor Rutherford expressed his appreciation to the Federal delegation of Steny Hoyer, Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin for securing federal funding for the construction of the TUAS building and the Maryland Guard for their operations in Baltimore. Rutherford noted this guard unit flies the RQ-7 Shadow which is produced by AAI Corporation from their Hunt Valley, Maryland facility.
Major General Singh, echoed Rutherford in her appreciation of the Federal delegation as well as the state representatives for making the construction a success. She also stated that Detachment 1, Company A, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment is in the top five flying hours nationwide. She urged these soldiers to continue doing their jobs and she hopes they will replace whoever is holding the number one spot.
Major General Gowen welcomed everyone “to the county.” He noted that “I started the day working just up the street at Pax River for Naval Air Systems Command” where he is an aerospace engineer and currently serving as Chief Engineer on the AIRWorks project.
He noted “what better way to finish the day then to put on my uniform and come here to talk about the great facility we have here.”
He went on to note that “the use of unmanned systems started in a time of war. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines acquired their skills in theater where we didn’t care about restricted airspace, we simply didn’t want to run into each other. The problem became when those units rotated back to their home base in the United States, they didn’t have an area like this to train.”
He went on to say this building represents the partnership between NAVAIR, the active duty and guard because it allows the guard “to utilize this facility and the controlled airspace to conduct UAV operations with our Navy Research, Test, Development and Evaluation counterparts across the runway.”
A small tour and light refreshments followed the ribbon-cutting.
Construction of the 10,298 square foot TUAS building began in 2011 and was completed in December 2014 at a cost of $5.5 million. The facility includes spaces for mission and flight planning, hangar/aviation maintenance, a simulation center, training support, state of the art classrooms, and administrative and support.
