Autonomous platforms were tested underground during the most recent “Game of Drones” event, held Sept. 14-18 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The demonstration deployed drones utilizing fiberoptic wire to navigate through service tunnels characterized by dark, dusty, and narrow corridors with hard-right angles.
The tunnel evaluations were designed to showcase the capability of wired drones to operate in a dark, radio frequency-denied underground environment. Lance Alix, a general engineer with Defense Contract Management Agency’s Special Programs Unmanned Systems, stated that the novel environment presented significant operational challenges including signal loss, tight corridors, and limited visibility, which demonstrated the functionality and adaptability of low-cost drones in real-world settings.
Alix and Air Force Maj. Mark Eisenhuth, integration cell lead with DCMA Special Programs, volunteered as assessors for the tunnel demonstration. Working alongside the Air Force 412th Test Wing’s Experimental Test Force and participating commercial vendors, they gathered technical, safety, and logistics information while capturing operational test data, performance observations, and user feedback.
The “Game of Drones” event was founded and sponsored by the DCMA Blue List team and run in cooperation with the Air Force 412th Test Wing’s ETF and the Griffiss Institute, a not-for-profit intermediary, in support of the Drone Dominance initiative. The Blue List, an aggregated list of compliant unmanned systems and components approved for purchase and operation by the War Department, was transferred to DCMA from the Defense Innovation Unit in 2025.
