Terre Haute Drone Test Site Goes Live With Dual Federal Backing

Terre Haute Regional Airport held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 29 for the Midwest Unmanned Aircraft System Test Site of Indiana, one of nine FAA-designated UAS test sites nationally. A maiden flight demonstrated large-scale cargo drone transport. The site partners with the Indiana National Guard to use special-use airspace over Camp Atterbury for kinetic and counter-UAS testing. U.S. Sen. Todd Young, Gov. Mike Braun, and FAA Test Site Director Dale Lyles attended the launch.

"We are partnered with the National Guard and we are going to be able to use the special use airspace over Camp Atterbury to be able to do kinetic testing as well as counter-UAS testing in combination with our test site," said Dale Lyles, FAA Test Site Director, at the October 29 ribbon-cutting. "That will make us completely different from any other test site in the United States."

The Army designated Camp Atterbury and Muscatatuck as Premier Test Ranges one day before this launch, giving Indiana a dual FAA-plus-Army designation within 48 hours. That combination cuts vendor range-booking time from roughly 18 months to about 30 days, an advantage no other state currently matches. The nearer-term manufacturing opportunity sits near Crane, not Terre Haute: Limitless Aeronautics announced plans in October to begin drone munitions manufacturing at ACMI's National Security Industrial Hub near Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane by late 2027. Indiana still has ground to make up. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's Emerging Aviation Technology Center has been operating since June 2025.