UD research group lands $11.5M contract for Air Force drone work

The University of Dayton has won a hefty modification to an Air Force contract for drone services.

The University of Dayton Research Institute has been awarded an $11,499,335 modification to a contract for Air-Launched Small Unmanned Air Systems (SUAS) services development, the Department of Defense recently said.

Services will include pre-launch, launch and post-launch command and control, system integration, capability development and flight testing to provide additional warfighter capability through air-launched off-board operations, the Air Force said.

This modification is for within-scope effort for development and integrating autonomy, navigation and tracking activities, system integration and expansion of drone capability development and field testing, the department said.

Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and is expected to be completed March 1, 2023. The contract originated with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson.

Another new Air Force contract with local implications: Riverside Research Institute has been awarded a $7,051,887 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the research and development of algorithms and tools to produce radio frequency modeling data.

Riverside is based in New York but has offices on Hibiscus Way in Beavercreek.

Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2025. This contract also came from AFRL.

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