A California-based company will soon design, develop and build unmanned aircraft vehicles in Danville.

NextGen Aeronautics is the newest tenant at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research.

The company was interested in opening an East Coast office and U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-5th, encouraged officials to look at Danville.

At an announcement that drew hundreds of interested residents Thursday, NextGen representatives and Goode said the company chose Danville because of other high-tech programs already at the Institute, including the Joint Unmanned Systems Test, Experimentation and Research (JOUSTER) program, and the Advanced and Applied Polymer Processing Institute (AAPPI).