Richard Bland College lands $20.2 million drone development, testing and training center
RICHMOND — A Virginia-based drone manufacturer plans to spend $27.2 million on a two-pronged development that not only will expand its headquarters but also create a testing and development center at Richard Bland College in Dinwiddie County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin's office announced Wednesday morning.
The bulk of that spending, $20.2 million, is earmarked for the RBC location, where testing, training, and research and development of drones will take place. Of the 655 jobs the entire project will create, 145 of them will be at RBC.
DroneUp LLC has an exclusive contract with big-box retailer Walmart and plans to develop three drone hubs at Walmarts in the commonwealth. Walmart has a minority stake in the company.
“This is an impressive and highly impactful project for Virginia Beach, Dinwiddie County, and beyond that represents a new age of technology for our society, and DroneUp is at the forefront of Unmanned Aircraft System development,” Youngkin said in the statement released by his office. “This homegrown Virginia company is transforming product delivery through its partnership with Walmart, and we are proud to partner with DroneUp as it extends its footprint across the commonwealth."
RBC president Debbie Sydow said in the statement that the project makes Richard Bland "a new model for higher education" in Virginia.
“RBC and DroneUp share the vision of delivering a world-class drone pilot training program to expand the [unmanned aerial systems] workforce in Virginia and across the nation," Sydow said. "Now the vision is becoming a reality as DroneUp prepares to welcome its first class to the drone testing, training, and R&D center at Richard Bland College.”
DroneUp's headquarters is on Newtown Road in Virginia Beach.
Virginia Beach and Dinwiddie competed with sites in Arizona, New York, North Carolina and Texas for the project. The deal was brokered by the state Economic Development Partnership on behalf of Virginia Beach, Dinwiddie, RBC and Virginia's Gateway Region.
Funding for the project comes from a $4 million in Virginia Economic Development Incentive grant dollars, $928,000 in grants from the Commonwealth's Opportunity Fund and $111,000 from the state Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund. Money for employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
Construction on the RBC location across from Statesman Hall has already begun. RBC released an 18-second video Wednesday afternoon showing site work being done. A completion date has not been announced.
DroneUp, a privately held company, was founded in 2016. It works with more than 20,000 drone pilots to develop delivery and technology services. Some of its application technology is available on the Apple Store and Google Play Store.
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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Virginia drone maker wants to create research center at Richard Bland
