Germany Drone Delivery

This Sept. 2014 photo provided by Deutsche Post/DHL shows a flying DHL drone in Germany. Deutsche Post/DHL says Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, it is starting Germany's first ever drone package delivery service, a test program transporting medication to a pharmacy on a difficult-to-access North Sea island. Drone delivery is being tested by Walmart at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, NY. (AP Photo/Nikolai Wolff Fotoetage)

(Nikolai Wolff Fotoetage)

ROME, NY - Someday in the not too distant future, you may be sitting in your living room when a drone drops off a package you ordered from Walmart or Amazon or Google.

Walmart has decided to test its drone delivery service in Central New York - and is starting field testing this month at Griffiss International Airport in Rome.

Oneida County this week approved a two-year deal for Walmart to pay nearly $1.6 million to the county for space at the airport.

The giant international retailer will rent a 28,000-square-foot hanger at the airport to conduct research and perform tests on its drone, or unmanned aerial systems delivery system, officials said. The work is starting immediately.

Drone test flights will take place at Griffiss, from one designated spot to another, officials said. Flight hours would include 12 flight days a month for six hours per day, they said.

Drones have to be able to be tracked visually at all times, and Griffiss is at an advantage because it has an advanced radar system that can detect smaller objects, said George Joseph, a legislator vice chair of Oneida County's airport committee.

"This is the next frontier," Joseph said. "How you operate drones in controlled air space is like figuring out how to have cars and traffic without a system of roads. We have the perfect set-up here to work on that."

Walmart, like Amazon and Google, is testing drone delivery and needs controlled air space for its field tests, he said.

Once Walmart completes its testing and is ready to move onto the next phase, Oneida County hopes it might be chosen to be part of a test market, Joseph said. But that may be several years away.

"Drone delivery is a huge industry, and companies are trying to get on board,'' said James Donofrio, Oneida County legislator. "There is great potential here, and at Griffiss we have the space, the software and the radar."

Griffiss was designated by the Federal Aviation Administration as a drone test site in 2013. The idea is to figure out how drones can safely operate in the air alongside piloted aircraft.

Oneida County Aviation Commissioner Russell Stark did not return calls, or inquiries about Walmart's plans at the airport. Walmart declined to comment.

In 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of a 50-mile corridor customized for unmanned aircraft as an attempt to lure companies to Central New York. The corridor will cost $30 million and run between the former Griffiss Air Force Base and Syracuse, and is expected to be completed in 2018.