Texas A&M, Red River & Texarkana College Team Up for $5M Military Tech Initiative

Wow, now this is big news for Texarkana. Three local partners will be teaming up on a major project backed by a $5 million grant.

Texas A&M University-Texarkana, Texarkana College, and Red River Army Depot will all share in the funding to help enhance the U.S. Military’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), better known as drone technology.

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The grant was awarded to the Ark-Tex Council of Governments, which will handle distributing the funds to the groups involved.

Texarkana Drone Project Part of a Bigger Investment Across Texas

This local project is actually part of a much greater effort. In total, about $26 million in grants is being distributed to military-related projects across Texas.

READ MORE: USDA Grant Boosts TexAmericas Center Business Growth

The goal is to invest in infrastructure, support military installations, and help protect jobs in communities that could be affected by future base realignment decisions.

Who’s Doing What in the Texarkana Drone Project?

Each of the three local partners will play a different role in the project:

Texarkana College will develop courses focused on drone production
Red River Army Depot will take care of defense-related program components
Texas A&M-Texarkana will lead battery development and testing for the drones.

According to a press release, these courses at A&M Texarkana will be available to existing engineers who can earn a professional certificate and electrical and mechanical engineering students as part of the university's engineering curriculum.

This is  A Win-Win for Students and for Texarkana's Economy

All in all, this is a huge win for students, our local industry, and the Texarkana community as a whole.