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Canada has several world class government ranges and facilities suited to the trialling, test and evaluation of unmanned systems, particularly unmanned aircraft.
For flying unmanned aircraft where there is a higher level of risk, or where there is a need for greater privacy, the Goose Bay range and facilities on the Labrador coast (Newfoundland and Labrador) are superb. For decades this area was used for NATO low-level fast jet training and so almost every aspect of the place is already well adapted to unmanned aircraft operations. In addition to vast areas of backwoods with extremely low human and seasonal wildlife populations, there is relatively easy access to the ocean.
Cold Lake in mid-eastern Alberta has been a Canadian Air Force test and evaluation centre for decades and is also ideally adapted to carry out similar activities for unmanned aircraft systems. There is plenty of segregated airspace and adjacen areas have relatively low populations densities.
In SE Alberta lies Canadian Forces Base Suffield, which has an area of some 1000 sq miles of permanently segregated airspace. Although the majority of this area is intensively used for exercises in the summer months, there is plenty of time during the rest of the year for unmanned aircraft operations. In addition ,some 10% of the area is permanently reserved for use by a Government R&D facility (DRDC) and CCUVS, through a provision of services agreement, can arrange ready access to this Experimental Proving Ground, with advance notice, throughout the year.
For those not requiring the rich additional facilities and capabilities offered by formal test ranges, CCUVS arranges SFOCs in rural areas of Canada, where air traffic and population densities are appropriately low. One such place is the township airport at Foremost, in southern Alberta, where the local community welcomes UAS activities. Southern Alberta benefits from some of the sunniest and clearest weather in Canada with more flying days than many other parts of the country.
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