The new Project RED drone can retrieve a friendly drone for repairs or capture an enemy drone for intel exploitation.
Soldiers of the Army National Guard ’s 28th Infantry Division have won an award for inventing a drone that uses a mechanism similar to an arcade claw machine to retrieve downed drones.This week, the team won the Best Innovation at the US Army’s inaugural Best Drone Warfighter Competition in Huntsville, Alabama.
The soldiers were awarded for Project RED, which stands for Recovery Exploitation Drone. The Project RED claw droneThe Project RED drones were built to fly over and inspect downed unmanned aircraft systems. They use artificial intelligence software to differentiate between friendly and enemy drones. Once a target is acquired, the drone then uses a robotic arm with a claw to capture the fallen drone and transport it to a base for repair or intel exploitation.The 28th Infantry Division soldiers built the robotic arm out of carbon fiber using 3D printing technologies. In a statement, they noted that they performed a live demonstration of their drone in action before winning the award. “This is a great achievement for the team and the UAS facility as well as the Pennsylvania National Guard as a whole,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Reed, the 28th Infantry Division team captain. “Competing against the entire Army, putting in the work and coming out on top really speaks volumes to what the team has been doing and the hard work they’ve been putting in, and it highlights the Pennsylvania National Guard and what we’re able to accomplish.”The 28th Infantry Division team received a plaque, as well as an Army Research Lab drone prototype, and a one-year research and development agreement. Under the one-year agreement, the team will assist the Army Research Lab with design improvements.“The judges were very impressed with everything we went through,” Reed said. “We got a lot of positive feedback and a lot of opportunity to continue working further with the Army Research Laboratory. They were highly impressed with what we were able to put together.”Drones on the modern battlefieldDrones are now a key technology in modern battlefields. They have played a key role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In May 2024, Ukrainian military officials claimed that “drones kill more soldiers on both sides than anything else.” An EU Institute for Security Studies report recently noted that Russia procures 100,000 low-tier drones monthly from multiple sources.The US Army, meanwhile, recently announced it would procure at least a million drones over the next two to three years.According to the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, drone warfare often violates international law. This is down to the uncrewed aircraft “attacking individuals without sufficiently determining their status,” resulting in “blatant violations of human rights and international law.”
Army National Guard Battlefield Technology Drones Military Drone Innovation Recovery Exploitation Drone US Army
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