WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the USNDA announced its sponsorship of the first interservice, international U.S. Military Drone Crucible Championship (MDCC), to measure, incentivize and rapidly integrate small drone skills and capabilities across the armed services. The MDCC will develop camaraderie across services and allied partners, and exchange lessons learned from the rapidly growing field of emerging drone technology to hone the skills of operational forces.
The U.S. Marines are the first service to launch an official U.S. Military Competitive Drone Team, co-led by Training Command and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, as part of a joint initiative to challenge and enhance the skills of warfighters through interservice competition within the operating forces and neighboring services.
“Just as early aviation races advanced our understanding of manned flight, drone racing will accelerate the integration and advancement of drones across all aspects of Marine Corps warfighting. As we incorporate FPV and small drone capabilities, we remain committed to demonstrating the highest standards of professional excellence in the Military Drone Crucible Championship. The technical expertise of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, combined with the competitive experience of the Marine Corps Shooting Team, in establishing the Marine Corps Attack Drone Team for the championship is just another step in ensuring that our Corps remains more ready than ever to meet current and future challenges,” said Major General Anthony Henderson, Commanding General, Training Command, and Brigadier General Simon Doran, Commanding General, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, in a joint statement.
Other participating DoD organizations include the Air Force Research Laboratory, Office of Naval Research, and U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command.
“As we contend with the challenges and opportunities presented by UAS proliferation, the Joint Force is seeking the collective ingenuity of our Services, Allies and partners, and industry stakeholders. The rapid innovation and iteration of critical UAS and C-UAS technologies strengthens the posture of the Joint Force for the wars of tomorrow,” said Lieutenant General Dagvin RM Anderson, Director of Joint Force Development, Joint Staff, Pentagon.
“Running concurrently with the MDCC, the DroneWERX Supply Web Challenge will allow drone industry supply chain innovators to integrate the latest technology into the competition teams inventories,” said the USNDA DroneWERX Director Marcus Rossi. “Counter Drone companies and prototypes are also encouraged to demonstrate in the Match 3 Drone Crucible. As an output of the overall competition the USNDA DroneWERX Report will provide the DoD with an analysis on drone supply chain resilience and vulnerabilities.”
“The Nation is hungry for earnest transparency on the state of both drone and counter drone capabilities,” said the Nathan Ecelbarger, Board Chairman on behalf of USNDA’s Directors and Advisors. “The Match 3 Drone Crucible is designed intentionally as a double-blind experiment to allow the data speak for itself. We look forward to meaningful discussion on the implications of the event with the Trump Administration, and Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Transportation to help ensure that our nation remains at the edge of these critical emerging technologies. Also… #GoNavyBeatArmy.”
The MDCC will be open to selected academic and civilian teams, showcasing drone technologies emerging from industry partners and classrooms across the nation. Regionally supported by the Central Florida consortia of universities and colleges, both Full Sail University and University of Central Florida will award full scholarships to winners of the U.S. Drone Competition for prototype innovation. Central Florida is home to over 100,000 college students and 400,000 high school students, in addition to being the modeling and simulation capital of the Nation.
“With the USNDA’s national headquarters based on the campus of Full Sail University, alongside the talent, growth, and innovation within our dynamic emerging technologies focused educational offerings, we look forward to collaborating with our neighboring higher education institutions to welcome the U.S. Military Drone Crucible Championship (MDCC) to our campus, region, and state,” said Full Sail University President, Garry Jones.
University of Central Florida President Alex Cartwright further stated, “We are pleased to support this event and highlight the innovation ecosystem within the State of Florida to help grow the talent and technology that will contribute to the United States’ defense and civilian sectors.”
The scholarships are part of a larger prize pool that also include opportunities for U.S. Government Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards, federal internships, and cash prizes awarded by the USNDA for Championship and Competitive Category winners.
The MDCC will consist of three back to back matches over the July 4th holiday weekend in Orlando, Florida, each increasing in difficulty and culminating in the Drone Crucible Championship event. The matches will test not only the speed and dexterity of Drone Pilots, but will also challenge problem solving and navigation skills through unknown obstacles, and task and technology-based skills navigating courses against unknown counter-drone measures provided by the defense and national security industry.
Match 1 will be held at professional sports venue, open to the public. Match 2 will be held on the campus of Full Sail University Campus. The Match 3 Drone Crucible held at an undisclosed military location in Central Florida.
In addition to U.S. services, a challenge has been extended to a consortia of European and Allied Nation drone operators. “It will be regrettable to deliver a victory for Britain on American soil on such a noteworthy American holiday. However, challenge accepted,” said Lieutenant Colonel Karl Eze, Chair of the British Army Drone Association, and Staff Officer for the British Army Drone Capability Development.
Highschool, College, Industry, International and U.S. Military applicants are encouraged to join the waiting list at www.usnda.org for additional details and MDCC rules to be released in February 2025.
About the USNDA:
The United States National Drone Association is not for profit, bipartisan, practitioner led Think Tank dedicated to rapidly and responsively advancing small drone and counter drone technology and capability primarily for National Defense, Security and Public Safety through increasing transparency and cooperation between academic industry, government and allied partners to primary events; U.S. National Drone Conference, The Annual Military Drone Championship “Drone Crucible”.
Press and media inquiries can be sent to press@usnda.org
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SOURCE United States National Drone Association
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