The Air Force Drone Racing Association (AFDRA) team has showcased the spirit of innovation and technical excellence at the Military International Drone Racing Tournament (MIDRT) in Sydney.
The competition, held from March 12 to 14, combined high-speed, first-person-view (FPV) racing at Randwick Barracks with exciting new tactical challenges at RAAF Base Richmond.
The tournament drew 76 pilots from seven nations including Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Australian Defence Force (ADF) cadets, defence industry and observers from other nations.
Sergeant Christopher Dickerson, AFDRA Team Captain was proud of the team's efforts during the tournament.
"Add to this soft skills such as perseverance and spatial awareness, we're building better aviators whether they're technicians, engineers or non-technical roles, which benefit our entire workforce," Sergeant Dickerson said.
"Out of the 16 teams competing, AFDRA finished 5th overall in the Drone Racing tournament and a respectable 3rd fastest military team.
"Given we typically can't send a full RAAF team to overseas events and we had two of the six team members competing in their first international-level tournament, this is an excellent result.
"ADF as a combined service team won the overall tournament and secured the sixth consecutive MIDRT championship title, which was a proud moment to be a part of with the rest of the ADF members."
'I believe it is important to always be pushing the boundaries of flight, engineering and innovation.'
Sergeant Dickerson is a strong advocate for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education within the ADF and the broader community.
"The spectators typically see the showy, high-speed action of drone racing, but behind this is a raft of technical skills," Sergeant Dickerson said.
"From basic soldering and programming to get a drone running, pilots develop deeper fault-finding, repair, data analytics and tuning skills to bring out the best in their machines as they develop.
"Add to this soft skills such as perseverance and spatial awareness, we're building better aviators whether they're technicians, engineers or non-technical roles, which benefit our entire workforce."
President of AFDRA Flight Lieutenant Jake Dell-O'Sullivan highlighted the genuine professional value of the sport.
"We strive to perfect our skills in developing drone technology, understanding the underlying sub-systems of the drones and fine-tuning our drone operator skills, to ensure we are at the forefront of drone innovation," Flight Lieutenant Dell-O'Sullivan said.
"This directly enhances our members' technical mastery to redeploy these skills and knowledge in their workplace."
The tournament introduced fresh tactical elements beyond traditional racing, including precision payload delivery using 10-inch FPV drones and aerial jousting with 7-inch FPV drones against a fixed-wing aircraft target.
"This is the first time we've really driven an activity to focus on these tactical portions with new scenarios to expand our skill into these areas of the drone capability, which has significantly increased our team-member skills," Flight Lieutenant Dell-O'Sullivan said.
'We strive to perfect our skills in developing drone technology, understanding the underlying sub-systems of the drones and fine-tuning our drone operator skills.'
Flight Lieutenant Dell-O'Sullivan has been an ardent supporter of drone technology for more than a decade.
"I believe it is important to always be pushing the boundaries of flight, engineering and innovation," he said.
"I see AFDRA being an important input into drone innovation and capability within the ADF, through the Air Force Drone Racing Association's commitment to building team members' skills in the workshop and on the racetrack and our commitment to the community by providing STEM education through the medium of drones."
Flight Lieutenant Dell-O'Sullivan encouraged fellow aviators to get involved in the drone association, a recognised Air Force sport since 2018.
"If you're a novice drone enthusiast or the fastest drone racing pilot, we encourage all RAAF members interested in what we do to join," he said.
"AFDRA conducts over 20 events annually ranging from racing tournaments to community STEM engagements where we share our passion and knowledge of the sport.
"With the team's growth over the past few years and continued support from Air Force Training Group, we are excited to expand our racing events to more RAAF members and our STEM activities to more of the Australian community."
AFDRA team results include:
- Leading Aircraftman Nelson White (BinChicken), 8th.
- Officer Cadet Charlie Morris (Falco), 9th.
- Aircraftman Tristan Hahn (BlackWolf), 20th.
- Flight Lieutenant Dell-O'Sullivan (Dellogator), 27th.
- Squadron Leader Michael Spencer (Spanna), 54th
- Sergeant Christopher Dickerson (Flightless Avian), 60th.
