Huntsville, Alabama – The Army kicked off its first annual Best Drone Warfighter Competition this week, bringing soldiers from across the country to showcase unmanned aerial skills and battlefield concepts.

The event marks a new chapter in how the service thinks about drone warfare and rapid innovation. It is sponsored by the Army Aviation Association of America and drew a diverse mix of units and teams.

The competition mirrors venerable Army traditions such as Best Sapper and Best Ranger, but places drones at the center of competition and training.

Three lanes determine the titles of Best Operator, Best Tactical Hunter-Killer Team, and Best Innovation. The lanes test speed, precision, team coordination, and the ability to adapt technology to mission needs.

Here's What They're Not Telling You About Your Retirement

The lanes include a drone racing obstacle course, a cross-country field exercise in which soldiers pair up to take out targets, and an innovation lane in which competitors demonstrate drone technology they have developed before a panel of judges. The design emphasizes practical, soldier-driven solutions to real-world challenges in unmanned warfare.

“These lanes absolutely inform and tell us what kind of skills we need to train to make them the best at what we expect them to do,” Col. Nicholas Ryan, director of Army UAS Transformation and Lessons Learned Manager at the Army’s Aviation Center of Excellence, explained.

The focus of the competition is not on gaining points or acclaim but developing recipes for success in the unmanned domain, Ryan said.

All lanes emphasize gathering input from soldiers about what drone technology is proving effective and why, encouraging participants to share solutions. The innovation lane gives soldiers experience with building and modifying their drone equipment, an essential skill in the fast-moving domain.

This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year

“That fabrication and modification aspect is also something we’ve taken from Ukraine because that’s what their operators do and it’s necessary for them to adjust their equipment to meet their mission demands,” Ryan observed. It is now built into our UAS training courses teaching them how to 3-D print, how to design, how to code and how to build their own drones.

What makes a good drone operator was a central question in the Best Operator lane, which used Neros Archer FPV drones to establish a standard platform for testing skills. The course presented intricate obstacles and demanding maneuvers, challenging even experienced pilots.

Captain Jacob Bickus, officer in charge of the Army Drone Team, noted that hands-on practice is essential for building competence. “Even though it’s racing, it’s still good practice for them to build their skills,” he said.

Asked what makes a good operator, Bickus emphasized an open mindset. “They have to be creative and innovative, and have an engineer problem-solving mindset because with these drones there are so many intricacies and knowledge you have to have to be able to proficiently operate them,” he said.

Looking ahead, future iterations may incorporate drone swarm tactics as the pace of technology allows.

“We absolutely want it in the Army, and want to use it in the Army. It’s not there just yet,” Ryan noted. The competition signals a broader shift toward one-to-many control, where one operator could manage multiple drones simultaneously as a standard capability across formations.

Participants and organizers agree that drones will be a common element across the force.

“What we’re seeing is that is going to be a common capability and piece of equipment across every formation of every type and any group of soldiers,” Ryan said. Fully autonomous systems may handle some basic tasks in the future, and the Army is examining how even greater autonomy could fit mission sets. “There will be so many mission sets that drones can do and various types of technology across ranges of autonomy, and that’s something that we’re looking at very closely as well,” Ryan concluded.

Warning: Account balances and purchasing power no longer tell the same story. Know in 2 minutes if your retirement is working for you.