Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, right, and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, left, announced plans in August 2022 to designate the Oklahoma-Arkansas region as a national hub for advanced mobility (AM).

In August this year, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson unveiled ambitious plans to position the Oklahoma-Arkansas region as a national hub for advanced mobility (AM). The collaborative effort aims support the advanced mobility industry including drones, electric and autonomous vehicles, battery manufacturing, and transportation and logistics solutions, will create new research and testing space, support local startups, attract new companies, and bring corporations together to test and scale new technologies. 

It could also offer some interesting opportunities to the satellite and space industry, given its close links to advanced mobility. In this interview with Via Satellite, Oklahoma Governor Stitt talks about the initiative and how he hopes advanced mobility could attract more space companies to Oklahoma and Arkansas in the future.

VIA SATELLITE: Why did you decide to do this initiative in Advanced Mobility? Can you tell us some of the thinking behind it?

Stitt: Aerospace and defense is Oklahoma’s second-largest industry. It actually employs over 120,000 people in our state. We have Tinker Air Force Base of 30,000 employees and that is the largest maintenance and repair facility in the entire world. So, it keeps all of the Air Force fleet flying and then there are about 1100 companies that spur out of that. For example, American Airlines has their largest maintenance repair facility on the commercial side in Tulsa. Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Spirit Aerosystems are already located in Oklahoma, and we have a natural cluster. We lean into that. 

On the unmanned stuff, the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] has their largest data center and largest site – 7,500 employees located in Oklahoma City as well. We have five other bases in our state. We have a lot of airspace. Strategically, from higher education, we are aligning our education system with our workforce and the companies we are looking to recruit. It is just a natural deal to focus on unmanned airspace, mobility. 

The reason we joined with Arkansas is that these companies love partnerships. The federal government loves partnerships with other states. I signed an MoU with the Louisiana governor and the Arkansas governor on hydrogen hubs. That is something that we can show, working with other states, that is when the feds want to come in and put down more federal resources to develop infrastructures, but also companies. We want companies to have a clear answer where they need to be located, for developing, testing, and producing products, deploying new advanced mobility technologies, whether it is autonomous vehicles or drone delivery. 

We wanted to plant the flag early that Oklahoma is the right place to be located for all those reasons I just mentioned, from the FAA side, to the airspace side, to the partnership between states. We will give you corridors and we will be business friendly. 

VIA SATELLITE: We know the space industry is heavily into mobility, connected vehicles, trains, planes, ships, cars. What role do you see the space industry playing in this super region for advanced mobility?

Stitt: We have a spaceport in the western part of the state. We are trying to develop that with some of the new companies that are coming out here. But, we just want to be the most business friendly state. There is a lot of advancement, and you look at where the research and development dollars are headed, [it is in] unmanned vehicles, automation on deliveries, autonomous vehicles on the driving side, truck lanes, hydrogen trucks. 

Oklahoma is an energy state. People just think of us as oil and gas, and we are super proud of our O&G industry, and we are No. 3 in terms of production of natural gas. But what people don’t realize about Oklahoma is that we are No. 2 in wind energy production. We have some of the cleanest water, cleanest air in the country. Over 40%  of our electricity comes from renewable. Google has their largest data center located in Oklahoma. We look at where the R&D dollars are headed, and then we try and set our commerce up to try and recruit those industries here. We understand space and connectivity around mobility is going to be very important for the future. 

The University of Tulsa has a cybersecurity PhD program, which is one of the first in the country. That will be very important in the future and we are trying to lean into it all the way from our universities to our business communities. 

VIA SATELLITE: Do you expect to see a lot of space companies become part of this initiative?

Stitt: We would love to attract some of those space companies. Jim Bridenstine was an Oklahoma congressman, and was the head of NASA under Trump. We haven’t developed that. Elon Musk hasn’t looked at Oklahoma yet. We have some supply chain issues that are supplying parts to that industry. We would like to continue to grow it. But, we haven’t landed the big, huge SpaceX yet.

We have a launch corridor into space. There is some uniqueness to Oklahoma from a launch perspective on the coordinates side. I know it is something that we are pushing.

VIA SATELLITE: What can Oklahoma/Arkansas offer companies in this area, especially considering other regions in the U.S. — Texas and California to name two — have a focus on space companies?  

Stitt: There are two things. When you talk about delivery vehicles, unmanned aircraft, you are going to need to work with government agencies to figure out how that airspace, that flow of airspace is going to work. So, I think we have a leg up there. We have the FAA there, so the people that are going to prove it are already in Oklahoma. With our airspace and our rural communities, we have an advantage. We have some Indian tribes here and we can work with them also. There is potentially 44,000 acres for development to be able to do some cool things in airspace. Partnering with Arkansas will allow us to set up designated roads. We are looking at potentially autonomous truck lanes that we are trying to think about in different areas, to try and prove a commercialization use of this technology.

Then, when you throw in our universities. For example, Oklahoma State University is the home to the Unmanned Systems Research Institute. It is the only place where you can get a PhD in that. When you put our two states together, we think this partnership, and in this region, makes us dominant in this space. 

VIA SATELLITE: What are the long-term goals for Oklahoma/Arkansas when it comes to advanced mobility?

Stitt: We would love Oklahoma City to be the first city to prove this, and have some of those pods where we can start delivering, moving people around, an Uber-type scenario for taxis in some of our metro areas. Eventually, we would like to manufacture some of those new flying cars. If we can plant the flag early, as we are the place that is already doing the R&D, then the manufacturing would come, and therefore the high-paying jobs, and our state grows. My job as governor is to put our state in the best position to grow and increase wage growth for our citizens, and grow the pie in the state of Oklahoma. I think the end goal is by attracting these industries early on, there is disruption. We know they are going to be building factories. We know they are going to look for places to be. If you already have the executives and technical people in your state, it is natural to have the manufacturing as well. 

VIA SATELLITE: Why is the region uniquely positioned here?

Stitt: People are leaving states like California, because they are high tax, the regulatory environment is not conducive to entrepreneurs and companies wanting to develop. I will give you one example – USA RareEarth just chose Oklahoma for the first ever mineral to magnet manufacturing. 90% of that supply chain is located in China, the reason they chose Oklahoma is they felt they could work with our regulatory agencies. It was going to be approving a new process. Anytime, you are proving a new process, you need to know the people you are working with are going to be partners. We are a business friendly state. We have a super low tax environment. More importantly, we are going to help you get your products to market. We are going to help you develop it and test it. Arkansas thinks the same way. You can work on this in a two-state region, so you can prove the commercialization of your products here. 

VIA SATELLITE: Is there a perception issue to overcome, particularly as Oklahoma and Arkansas are not seen as traditional homes for these types of businesses?

Stitt: You are not wrong. Historically, people have thought of the East Coast and West Coast, and we were flyover country. But, that is changing post-COVID. People are realizing they can live anywhere. Our housing costs are 430% lower than California. Our labor costs are a lot lower because our cost of living costs are a lot lower. Our tax burden is lower. More importantly, from a business perspective, our regulatory environment is more pro-business. Then you throw in the reliability of our energy grid. In California, you have rolling blackouts and have to push alternatives. Oklahoma will stand up against anybody when it comes to alternatives. We are No. 2 in wind energy production. We do this all without government mandates. We have the most reliable energy grid, the cheapest electricity costs to consumers and business 11 out of the last 14 quarters. CEOs are looking for that.

We have that reliability and common sense. Oklahoma is the 28th largest state in the country, 19th in terms of land area. If you are a European company that needs a U.S. presence, Oklahoma is the right spot. We are dead center when it comes to being located in the U.S., with distribution all over the U.S. We are selling that message right now.