Craig Campbell, Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) President and CEO, and Jim Crisafulli, Hawai’i Office of Aerospace Development (OAD), jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding today at the 2013 Hawai’i Aerospace Summit confirming their intention to establish a formal working relationship in state aerospace activities to serve the Pacific Region. 

“This agreement provides Alaska with a tremendous opportunity to expand our capabilities to provide aerospace services in a collaborative and cooperative partnership with Hawai’i, as we look for increased opportunities to serve the Pacific Region,” said Craig Campbell. “This is the century of the Pacific for the United States. Alaska and Hawaii are geographically situated to provide the most rapid, focused, and cost-effective aerospace services as our nation expands our interests in this region. Alaska Aerospace Corporation owns and operates the nation’s most modern spaceport complex from Kodiak and works closely with the University of Alaska in developing aerospace capabilities. It is our expectation that this new partnership with Hawai’i will significantly increase the interaction between our two states and provide enhanced capabilities for our nation by offering state-of-the-industry solutions within the Pacific Region to both government and commercial customers,” Campbell confirmed.

“Hawaii’s strategic mid-Pacific/near-equatorial location, Moon/Mars-like terrain, resident expertise in aerospace-related technologies, and long-standing ties with space-faring nations throughout Asia and the Pacific, afford strategic assets and capabilities that can be leveraged to realize humankind’s full potential in space,” said Jim Crisafulli. “For the past half century, our State has utilized these resources to advance our national space program – beginning with astronaut training for the Apollo lunar missions and the development of world-class observatories on the Big Island, and extended through pioneering programs in planetary geosciences, satellite communications, space-based environmental monitoring, deep-space surveillance, and other areas employing aerospace-related technologies. We wholeheartedly concur with General Campbell that the partnerships enabled through this Memorandum of Understanding will provide unique and timely opportunities to combine our substantial and complementary aerospace resources to expand the frontiers of both next-generation aviation and space exploration,” Crisafulli explained.

AAC was established by the State of Alaska to develop a high technology aerospace industry in the state. Its core business area is space launch, and it developed, owns, and operates Kodiak Launch Complex, a state-of-the-industry spaceport on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

The Hawai‘i OAD provides a focal point within State government to facilitate dialogue and coordination among Hawai‘i’s government, private and academic sectors, and between Statebased entities and overseas organizations, both public and private, to promote the growth and diversification of Hawai‘i’s aerospace industry.