Fort Rucker, AL - The U.S. Army is assembling a competitive drone team to bring visibility to the Army, assist with recruiting, and to provide tactical and developmental input, with the initial members already having won second place against other DoD teams.
Based out of Fort Rucker, the Army’s competition drone team is made up of Soldiers and civilians from across the Army. Like the Army’s other demonstration and competitive teams, the drone team will take part in public events and competitions to increase the public’s awareness of the Army’s people, mission, and effectiveness on the battlefield.
“We want the team to be just as great as the Golden Knights (parachute team). We want them to have that same level of rapport and high visibility,” said Staff Sgt. AJ Smith an Aviation Center Logistics Command instructor with the 1st Aviation Battalion and a founding member of the drone team.
The team was originally formed while planning to attend the AI+Expo for National Competitiveness held in Washington D.C. in June 2025. While the team intended to make the trip more of a scouting mission to find out about the plans and events the UNDA, the competition quickly turned into event participation.
“Our purpose initially was just to go and learn. On the ground the Navy, and Marines and Air Force, all had teams there,” Booth said.
There was a first-person video (FPV) racing event and to keep the playing field level, the drones for the race were provided. The team had practiced on a simulator system to get a feel for what the race would look like, but with nothing to lose and everything to gain, when the opportunity to take part in a DoD race arose, the team took it.
FPV drone racing is a challenging sport requiring the operator to pilot the tiny aircraft at extreme speeds through a complex three-dimensional racetrack. Wearing special virtual reality-style goggles connected to a small camera on the nose of the tiny quadcopter drone the operator pilots the drone as if they were sitting in the pilots’ seat.
When it came time for their turn to blast through the 40 ft x 40 ft enclosed race area at breakneck speeds, the Army team, despite little training and having arrived with no intention of competing, walked away with second place in the DoD category, beating out the Navy and Air Force.
“It was like the Avengers, we just assembled skillful people to make it happen…Without any prior training, just with the skills and experience we’d developed, we got together as a make-shift team, and were able to compete, and we came in second place,” said Smith. “What was a highlight to me immediately after was: Imagine if we had trained together prior to the event.”
“Next time” however will be a little different. The next event is the USNDA Crucible event, where DoD teams will compete against each other using tactical assets and conducting tactical mission styled events inspired by real work scenarios and operations.
“We’ll be able to go to an ‘arms room’ as they are calling it where they will have drones that are on the blue clear list (of drones approved for use by the DoD), also drones that are just (commercial off-the-shelf), and some that are drones that haven’t even been exposed to the market yet, where we can then choose between those systems and build onto our team for the specific events they will have,” Smith said.
While the USNDA has not released a full list of events, they’re describing the events as being tactically focused and replicating things seen by drone operators in the field, both conducting civil support missions at home and combat operations in world conflicts.
While the team has an outward facing mission demonstrating the skills of the Soldiers to the public and future Soldiers, the team also has a mission supporting and defining the Army’s unmanned future.
On the playing field, the team will be looking for new solutions to new problems. Not only focused on the best uses for the systems in the competition, but also how that might translate back to the Army’s expanding requirements for unmanned aerial systems. This also means trying new things and taking a competition fueled outsiders look. As a “sporting event” the team won’t be restricted by doctrine and theory and can try new things and focus on the win, allowing them to potentially learn new ways of doing things.
“Anyone can fly a drone in an open desert with no obstacles or interference… but when you have people pushing them to the limit because it’s a competition, we’re going to find ‘hey units you might want to use it this way instead of that way’... and further drive requirements and put better tech into the hands of Soldiers,” said Booth.
What the team will be doing on the playing field will be the visible part, they also see themselves as working for the betterment of the Army off the field as well. With the freedom to use their own systems, rather than the standardized drone used to keep the racing scene fair, the Soldiers and civilians on the team see a chance to influence system development as well.
“A team like this will be able to directly inform the capability developers, who will in turn inform industry…and the team being at Fort Rucker have a direct line to the aviation capability developers and industry and will be able to help direct the path the Army takes going forward,” Booth said.
In addition to the team preparing for the next event, they have another task to complete as well: recruitment. Looking to the next competition, the team is planning a recruitment drive to bring on new team members. The initial draft is expected to be largely virtual using simulators to help find competitive drone operators with the ranks of the Army’s Soldiers, civilians and contractors.
“It’s the Army team, so you’re a Soldier, I’m a contractor, so if you’re in the Army, or work for the Army, a Department of the Army Civilian, you can be on the team.,” Booth said.
The intent to gather a large team, with plenty of alternates, allowing the team to conduct training and coordination. As events are scheduled, the team can put together a group to go compete based on geographic location of members, and their availability to travel and attend the event, ensuring the Army can always meet event team size and skill requirements with the best team possible.
“We don’t know if everyone will be able to make it to these competitions until the team gets more formalized… so as we look at the competition we’ll go down the roster… and that will enable us to fulfill the number USNDA wants us to provide for a team, and allow more people to showcase their skill,” Booth said.
As the program becomes more formalized the recruitment system is expected to be revised and updated.
In the end, the team may be out to have fun, win trophies and demonstrate what the Army can do, but in the evolving field of drone warfare, it’ll also be an important part of what will ultimately ensure the Army can play its part in establishing and maintaining the nation’s drone dominance on the battlefield.
“We’re looking at future history right now with how far and how fast this area can improve and change the course of how we fight, how we operate, how we understand tactics, and how we perform in the battlespace in general,” Smith said.
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