"Game of Drones" demo to investigate, showcase new UAS capabilities
NewsMay 23, 2018
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nevada. Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) and its partners, Ascent Vision and RADA Technologies, will participate in the SOFWERX ThunderDrone Rapid Prototyping Event (RPE) III demonstration, to be held at Nellis Air Force Base in June 2018. SOFWERX is a Partnership Intermediary Agreement between Doolittle Institute and the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), created to investigate new technology for U.S. warfighters.
SNC and partners will participate in the demo, also being called "Game of Drones," using X-MADIS (eXpeditionary Mobile Aerial Defense Integrated System), which is a self-contained, fully mobile, and integrated counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) capability. The C-UAS, radar, and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) equipment is integrated into a commercial off-road vehicle that can detect, locate, identify, track, exploit, and defeat a hostile UAS or drone to protect airports, no-fly zones, and other high-value infrastructure.
The SOFWERX RPE demonstration events -- initially held in June 2017 -- have evaluated more than 450 technological capabilities aimed at bringing sea-, land-, and air-based UAS, tactical swarms, payloads (kinetic/non-kinetic/sensors), and their associated data science applications to the Special Operations Community. ThunderDrone RPE III is the culmination of the events, and X-MADIS is one of just 30 remaining entrants.
