Latrobe City Council has appointed Yarra Drones to design and establish an Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Command Centre at Latrobe Regional Airport, supported by funding from the Victorian State Government.
The Command Centre, forming part of the Latrobe Aerospace Technology Precinct, will primarily provide operators with facilities to research, test, and evaluate their drone technologies. Latrobe City is a uniquely positioned as an ideal location being only 1.5 hours from Melbourne, with access to established supply chains and importantly, low population density areas within the proposed testing corridor.
The appointment marks a significant milestone in the region's ability to support safe, scalable, and integrated test and evaluation of low-to-no emissions AAM technologies in the pursuit of cleaner and faster transportation and services. It is driven by Latrobe City's commitment to actively pursue investment in emerging industries and industries that diversify our local economy to create jobs and increase economic growth.
Australia's emerging drone sector is expected to deliver a $14.5 billion economic boost and create more than 5,500 jobs annually. Positioning Latrobe to attract a significant share of this national opportunity, Council has established the Latrobe Aerospace Technology Precinct (the Precinct), a national Centre of Excellence and Australia's first fully integrated site for advanced air mobility research, development, testing, and evaluation.
Latrobe City Mayor, Councillor Sharon Gibson, welcomes the development.
"Further investment in aerospace is an exciting development for our region. It represents a major step toward creating new opportunities which means more local jobs."
"It's exciting that Latrobe is set to play a role in the nation's aviation future, which will be good news for improving emergency services, industry and public transport," said the Mayor.
Ravi Murty, Founder and Chief Remote Pilot of Yarra Drones, echoes the sentiment.
"We are honoured to partner with Latrobe City Council to deliver this nationally significant AAM Command Centre. The facility will provide a controlled, regulatory-aligned environment where national and international companies can develop, test, and trial uncrewed aircraft systems safely and efficiently."
"Our focus is to deliver a scalable, future-ready platform that supports testing, evaluation, certification, and the commercialisation of Uncrewed Aviation Systems and Advanced Air Mobility operations. By enabling research and development, and system trials in Latrobe City, the Command Centre positions the region as a hub for innovation, capability building, and advanced aviation development, and we are privileged to be part of this initiative," continued Mr Murty.
