Pan Pacific UAS Test Range Complex

Our Mission

Create a world-class research center for unmanned aircraft systems, providing integration of unique payloads and supporting pathfinder missions within government and science communities, with a special emphasis on tropical, coastal, and open water environments.

Our Vision

Develop, test, and ultimately exploit emerging unmanned aircraft technology and its uses to create a positive economic, social, and environmental benefit within the State of Hawaii.

The Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex is one of six official FAA test sites in the United States. The PPUTRC spans seven climate zones, allowing UAS manufacturers and potential users to test equipment in the Arctic, tropics, and arid environments. Managed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the test site is a dynamic collaboration between five states: Alaska, Oregon, Mississippi, Kansas, and Hawaii. Long-standing academic partnerships between the University of Hawaii, Oregon State University, and University of Alaska Fairbanks creates a strong foundation between university-based test range managers. 


Operations in Hawaii are quickly developing as efforts to facilitate research and conduct tests for UAS integration in Hawaii increase. From UH athletic fields to large, open areas of the Dole Pineapple plantation on Lana‘i, Hawai‘i offers tropical conditions, access to warm over-ocean conditions, and the ability to conduct test flights when weather limits operations in the Pacific Northwest.

Why Hawai‘i?


Extreme and Varied Climates

Hot, wet, salty, windy, and communications denied tropical conditions make Hawai‘i inhospitable for airborne electronics. Additionally, Hawai‘i is home to 8 of 13 climate zones, allowing us to conduct flight tests over open ocean, topical coastlines, rain forests, grasslands, turbulent valleys and arid alpine slopes, all within 50 miles. Testing in these conditions will ensure your system can perform, no matter the weather.

University of Hawai‘i R&D Resources

Although Hawaii is one of the most remote island chains on the planet, the University of Hawai‘i system and our local collaborators can provide resources that make you feel at home.

UH has an array of researchers in various fields of earth sciences and engineering that already integrate UAS into their work and can provide end-user feedback, engineering support,or a solid intellectual base to brainstorm ideas,