Air Force Museum hosts high-stakes drone competition with $6.5M in prizes

(Tribune News Service) — More than 90 teams will attempt to prove that drones can do something many in aviation once considered impossible: carry loads four times their own weight over miles of flight.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Lift Challenge, hosted by the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio from Aug. 6 to 9, offers a total of $6.5 million in prize money.

Drones are typically capable of lifting just a fraction of their weight. The contestants have built drones that will not only lift four times their weight, but can haul that load over an outdoor course.

“We are going to try to do things that people have said are impossible in aviation,” said Phillip Smith, a DARPA program manager who is overseeing the event.

Contestants will fly — or try to fly — back and forth for four miles, with their craft loaded, Smith said. They’ll land on a landing pad, take the weight off and fly another mile unloaded.

The craft will be expected to maneuver. They need to do more than just pick something up and carry it a few feet. They must shift left and right, navigate around obstacles, drop off the load and return.

“We can actually evaluate designs and concepts that will work in a military and civilian market,” Smith said.

“This is all for just the pure engineering, innovation spirit,” he added. “And that’s awesome to see.”

Competitors will hail from companies new and established, universities and independent inventors. For four days, visitors at the free event can watch engineers and competitors from across the country test drone designs capable of hauling payloads far heavier than today’s aircraft of similar size.

“This is 100% dual use,” Smith said. “If we make a breakthrough here, yes, we will have a better military capability. But it immediately translates over to the civilian market.”

Two large Jumbotron video screens on museum grounds are expected to be on site with coverage from live commentators.

Also part of the planned events, visitors can also expect Flite Fest, billed as one of the nation’s premier radio-control aviation events featuring flying demonstrations, giant-scale model aircraft, STEM activities, a build tent and more.

“Then you can go out and fly yours and crash it, repair it, do it all over again,” he added.

As with any outdoor event, this one is weather-dependent. Excessive wind can ground the drones. Smith advises those attending to consider a morning visit, when high winds may be less likely.

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