UTEP hosts drone competition

The Sun Bowl will be the site of the Inaugural U.S. Army Drone competition taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The next generation of aviation innovators will be showing off their unmanned aerial vehicles to high ranking officers from the Army Combat Development Command.

UTEP is not only hosting the competition but the Miners have their own drone squad trying to win it all.

The 11 remaining teams are being tasked with addressing real world technology gaps that the army has been struggling with.

The competition is also meant to bring bright young minds into the fold of career opportunities tied to the army’s science and technology research division.

“If you want to have a quick recon, you’ll have a smaller arm because it will be l lighter and it will be quicker whereas longer arms you can have hover mode and if you want to have more surveillance the motors will also be able to take into account if you want to have different cameras so we will have different mounts on the bottom for the different cameras that you want,” said drone designer Zachary Nieto.

In addition to the main competition, there will also be a technology expo taking place with more than 600 local high school students on hand to enjoy the celebration of the sciences.

And UTEP’s own senior policy researcher Doctor Michael McGee has helped make the school a focal point for UAV tech development as a means to assist with public safety and border security measures.

“The things we are working on range from some of these very heavy lift high endurance UAS’s like you see sitting next to me to a range of different sensors, researching different operational capabilities,” said Dr. McGee.

And El Paso itself is set to become a home for drones and their pilots as a new base called Test Site Bravo is set to be built and serve the growing UAV program, starting in 2022.