STR to Join Drone Swarming Tech Demo for Air Force Golden Horde Program

The Defense Innovation Unit has selected STR to participate in virtual technology demonstrations in support of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s “Golden Horde” program.

One of AFRL’s high priority Vanguard programs, Golden Horde is entering a new phase in which industry’s best drone swarming technologies, including autonomous software, compete in a virtual “Colosseum” environment.

As one of the competitors, STR will test its Collaborative Artificial Intelligence Task Execution Engine. CAITEE improves the efficacy and efficiency of uncrewed air platforms used for military applications, the company said.

STR aims to deliver collaborative autonomy for groups of long-range, high-speed aerial platforms operating in contested environments.

“By leveraging networked, collaborating, and autonomous air platforms within contested airspace, we can maintain tighter decision cycles than our opponent and impose significant cost on the adversary,” James Reeve, STR’s program manager for CAITEE, said in a statement.

AFRL Commander Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle spoke about the virtual competition at the annual Air Force Association Air, Space & Cyber conference.

According to Pringle, the “face-offs” will enable program researchers to assess commercial solutions and give industry feedback about how their technologies can operate in a mission-relevant space.

Other companies joining the virtual contest are Autonodyne, EpiSci, L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Shield AI and Georgia Tech Research Institute.

Pringle said the schedule for the contests is still being finalized. She also made clear that contests will be hosted in such a way that builds on the assessment of previous results.