US Air Force Revs Up for ThunderDrone

By Paul Ausick Updated Jan 12, 9:05AM EST · Published Aug 16, 8:25AM EDT

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

US Air Force Revs Up for ThunderDrone — © IMDB.com

At a competition last week at New Mexico’s Holloman Air Force Base, the U.S. Air Force kicked off its Light Attack Experiment, an effort to find a low-cost, light-attack fighter plane that would require reasonably little work to develop. At the event, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson announced that the service is “going to have a big competition” soon, “a rapid prototyping event, … to investigate swarms and platforms and effects and data science of small unmanned aerial vehicles.” It’s name is ThunderDrone.

ThunderDrone is being coordinated by Florida-based SOFWERX, a firm that originated at the Doolittle Institute and has an agreement with the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) “to assist with collaboration, innovation, prototyping and exploration with industry, labs and academic partners.”

SOFWERX is hosting a technical exposition in early September to which it has invited Special Operations Forces (SOF) Warfighters “to participate in ThunderDrone, a focused technology innovation effort related to drones (sea, land, air, and space), tactical swarms, payloads (kinetic/non-kinetic), and their associated data science applications for the Special Operations community.”

[nativounit]

A report in DoD Buzz cited Secretary Wilson who said that “the service wants to look at drone swarm data and performance, and other ways small unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles can be used on the battlefield and beyond.”

On November 1, a “Prototype Rodeo” will take place in a 7,000-square foot indoor test range for drone experimentation, prototyping and testing. This event completes the ThunderDrone experiment, and some technologies may be selected by SOF and SOCOM for further development.

As Secretary Wilson put it, “Ok, bring your stuff, we’ll see who the last drone standing is.”

We only hope they don’t forget to invite Tina Turner.

[recirclink id= 407921]

[wallst_email_signup]

DISCLOSURE:

Customer must fund their Active Invest account with at least $50 within 45 days of opening the account. Receive a minimum of $15. Probability of member receiving $3,000 is a probability of 0.026% If you don’t make a selection in 45 days, you’ll no longer qualify for the promo. Percentages for the $3,000 are subject to decrease. See full terms and conditions.

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, member FINRA(www.finra.org)/SIPC(www.sipc.org). Advisory services are offered by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Information about SoFi Wealth’s advisory operations, services, and fees is set forth in SoFi Wealth’s current Form ADV Part 2 (Brochure), a copy of which is available upon request and at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. Probability of Member receiving $1,000 is a probability of 0.026%; If you don’t make a selection in 30 days, you’ll no longer qualify for the promo. Customer must fund their account with a minimum of $50.00 to qualify. Other fees, such as exchange fees, may apply. Please view our fee disclosure to view a full listing of fees. Investing in alternative investments and/or strategies may not be suitable for all investors and involves unique risks, including the risk of loss. An investor should consider their individual circumstances and any investment information, such as a prospectus, prior to investing. Interval Funds are illiquid instruments, the ability to trade on your timeline may be restricted. Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, Member FINRA(www.finra.org) /SIPC(www.sipc.org). There are limitations with fractional shares to consider before investing. During market hours fractional share orders are transmitted immediately in the order received. There may be system delays from receipt of your order until execution and market conditions may adversely impact execution prices. Outside of market hours orders are received on a not held basis and will be aggregated for each security then executed in the morning trade window of the next business day at market open. Share will be delivered at an average price received for executing the securities through a single batched order. Fractional shares may not be transferred to another firm. Fractional shares will be sold when a transfer or closure request is initiated. Please consider that selling securities is a taxable event. Options involve risks, including substantial risk of loss and the possibility an investor may lose the entire investment Before trading options please review the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options Investing in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) involves substantial risk, including the risk of loss. Further, there are a variety of risk factors to consider when investing in an IPO, including but not limited to, unproven management, significant debt, and lack of operating history. For a comprehensive discussion of these risks please refer to SoFi Securities’ IPO Risk Disclosure Statement This should not be considered a recommendation to participate in IPOs and investors should carefully read the offering prospectus to determine whether an offering is consistent with their investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation. New offerings generally have high demand and there are a limited number of shares available for distribution to participants. Many customers may not be allocated shares and share allocations may be significantly smaller than the shares requested in the customer’s initial offer (Indication of Interest). For more information on the allocation process please visit IPO Allocation.

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.