Hundreds of applicants hope to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Lift Challenge, which is designed to transform drone operations with a deceptively simple goal: make ...

As military missions become more complicated, warfighters need more capable drones to use across diverse scenarios. The same also applies to civilian applications, like infrastructure inspection, ...

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) issued a challenge, the DARPA Lift Challenge, in October 2025 to develop novel drone designs that have greater payload-to-weight ratio. DARPA, which ...

Olympic barbell weights will be used as the drone’s payload for the DARPA Lift Challenge flyoff competition in mid-2026. Credit: DARPA Pentagon neglect played a key role in China gaining global ...

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The Pentagon’s research arm is tapping into American innovation to design a drone that can carry more than four times its weight, a breakthrough capability that could be ...

To aid in logistics and resupply missions, DARPA wants to reimagine how drones lift and carry payloads. Check out the development agency’s Lift Challenge. Military ...