Latest news with #ManeuverInnovationLab
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fort Benning soldiers optimize drone capabilities at new innovation lab
FORT BENNING, Ga. () — The U.S. Army has been implementing drone technology into its operations for years, in an effort to reduce unnecessary soldier deaths. Fort Benning's experimental force and Maneuver Innovation Lab play key roles in optimizing drone capabilities. 'Alright, just go through the box there,' Sgt. Zakary Kinard instructs Pfc. Sebastian Kelleher, who is piloting palm-sized drone through an obstacle course. Kinard and Kelleher both work with the U.S. Army's experimental force. Part of their mission is training with drone technology, as well as collaborating with Fort Benning's new Maneuver Innovation Lab. An infantryman by training, Kelleher has adapted to working with his team but it was jarring at first. 'Being that I was mainly trained to have a weapon on ground and walk with my feet, having a drone in hand was completely new,' Kelleher said. He joined the Army about a year-and-a-half ago, joining the experimental force after finishing his initial training. The job has involved plenty on-the-spot learning. 'A lot of this is experimental, so his [Kinard's] training is directly, like, applied to what you're going to be doing outside,' Kelleher said. 'You've got to trust your equipment, trust your team.' Working with the Maneuver Innovation Lab, the experimental force tests drones and other technology, optimizing it for use by the Army. The lab is a collaboration between soldiers, Columbus State University students, vendors, contractors and potential contractors, who work together to identify technology strengths and weaknesses and engineer solutions. For drones, they're looking at everything from visuals and range to battery life and load-carrying capacity, which all impact usage in military operations. 'The purpose of, you know, the Black Hornet, all the different aerial assets that we have, is to, you know, gain situational awareness on the battlefield,' Kinard said. 'It minimizes the threat level to us ourselves and partnering forces.' The Black Hornet is a short-range reconnaissance drone. According to Kinard, the Army can use it in place of a human to conduct surveillance and check hallways and rooms for signs of danger. 'We always want to put the technology in front of the forces just to eliminate casualties,' Kinard said. But using drone technology in place of soldiers can still come with caveats. According to Kelleher, the Black Hornet drone, specifically, is slow-moving and has a battery life of just 40 minutes. Its docking station has a battery life of three hours and a charge time of about an hour-and-a-half. Drones are also unable to gather all of the same information a human would. 'As soldiers, we're trained to have, to use, all of our senses,' said Kinard. 'So, we're not necessarily getting all the feedback that we would if we had an actual soldier out there.' Whether a soldier will go in person or use a drone to conduct reconnaissance depends on the situation and its risk level. Kinard said, 'There's times that we would put a person out there. We just try to eliminate it as much as possible with the assets that we have.' According to Kelleher, some recent suggestions the experimental force has made at the Maneuver Innovation Lab are already being implemented. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Maj. Gen. Colin Tuley gives annual State of Fort Benning address
COLUMBUS, Ga. () — Community leaders and U.S. Army officials gathered at the National Infantry Museum Friday morning. They were there for the annual State of Fort Benning address. A lot has happened at Fort Benning in the past year, from leadership changes to a name redesignation, innovation upgrades and more. The U.S. Army installation's current commanding general, Maj. Gen. Colin Tuley, addressed what's new on post, including some quantifiable data. 'We have graduated over 64,000 students… that included over 25,000 infantry and armor soldiers,' said Tuley, who took command of Fort Benning – then Fort Moore – in July of 2024. Also included in that 64,000 were 1,900 armor and infantry officers who graduated from the installation's basic officer courses; 1,400 Ranger-qualified soldiers and 10,000 paratroopers, according to Tuley. Fort Benning's current commanding general was also quick to address the post's redesignation back to the Benning name, after Sgt. Fred Benning, a Distinguished Service Cross Recipient. 'He was left all alone as an 18-year-old. And he said, 'I will lead this platoon,'' Tuley said, adding, 'That's all he worried about, was those young soldiers just like him to his left and to his right.' Tuley highlighted Sgt. Benning's humility, courage and commitment to those around him while in service, saying those qualities exemplify what the U.S. Army post hopes to instill in its soldiers. The redesignation is expected to cost Fort Benning $653,000. Fort Benning also continues to move forward with a modernization effort, experimenting with technology and human machine integration. On top of new drone tech, combat vehicles and weapons, it has been making changes with its new Maneuver Innovation Lab. 'The Innovation Lab is where we test out new technologies, things from medical, communication, weapons—again—small UAS, it's tested there and experimented here,' Tuley explained. That lab hosted its inaugural open house in January of this year. It is partnering with Columbus State University students to help solve problems faced by the Army. Asked about potential workforce reductions, Tuley talked about workforce optimization. 'You can look at it from a lens of reduction, but there is also a lens of, 'How do you optimize?'' said Tuley. 'How do you optimize a way in which [the] robotics and artificial intelligence-enabled programs, or processes, that are actually out there, [to] help … put human beings and people into better and into other positions where we need more folks oriented towards.' Tuley also emphasized the Columbus community's importance in improving the quality of life of Fort Benning soldiers and their families. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Yahoo
Fort Benning hosts inaugural Army JROTC National Drone Championship
FORT BENNING, Ga. () — The primary goal of JROTC programs is to make its cadets into standup citizens, but it's also focused on helping students gain skills they might use professionally after high school. One of those skills? Piloting drones. This weekend, the Inaugural Army JROTC National Drone Championship is taking place on post at Fort Benning, which serves as an Army proponent for human-machine integration and robotics. Although a military wide JROTC drone competition took place last year, this is the first Army JROTC-specific championship. Roughly 145 students from 40 different schools nationwide—including as far away as American Samoa—were at Lawson Army Airfield Friday night for the event's opening ceremony. The two-day competition tests students on their drone piloting capabilities, teamwork and more. Cadets will compete in multiple events before winners are named Saturday evening. Senior leaders at the event said it is a great opportunity to show high schoolers what the Army is like and showcase their hard work using technology similar to what they might see if they choose military careers. 'It's just amazing to see the technical aspect and how proficient these young people have become flying these drones,' said Command Sgt. Maj. Roy Young, who is the head of U.S. Army Cadet Command, which includes 270 host programs at universities nationwide, as well as 1,800 JROTC programs. U.S. Army partnership with local university could speed up tech development Cadets were grateful to be at the competition, which was in part put on by the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation. 'It means a lot to us because, you know, not everybody gets the opportunity that we have to deal with this technology, come out to these competitions and do these things that we're doing,' said Braden John, from Timberland High School in St. Stephen, S.C. Minutes before, his team had skillfully piloted their drone through a course during a practice run. They said they had only spent about the past five months working with the technology. Another team was similarly grateful to be representing their school at the national level. 'It took a lot for us to get here. We had to—we had to put a lot of effort and work into it, so it means a lot to us,' said senior Evan Elekima from Mattie T. Blount High School in Prichard, Ala. The JROTC National Drone Championship comes almost one year after Fort Benning, then Fort Moore, hosted the inaugural Army Drone competition in May 2024. It also comes one month after the post hosted an open house for the Maneuver Innovation Lab, where local university students and soldiers will work together to improve Army technology, including drone capabilities and training. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
