Tron Future Tech has secured third place in the “Defense Application UAV Challenge,” organized by Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council and National Cheng Kung University.

The team participated with an in-house developed air reconnaissance drone, completing autonomous flight and multi-target identification tasks in a GNSS-denied environment, demonstrating Tron Future’s prowess in drone development and the tactical potential of its technology. It also pave the way for Tron Future to be the only Taiwanese company possessing both anti-drone and drone technologies.

This year, the competition’s challenge focused on “Multi-target reconnaissance in a GNSS-denied environment,” simulating a battlefield scenario where drones are unable to use satellite navigation systems due to electromagnetic interference and must autonomously plan flight routes and acquire targets. As required by the final stage of the competition, the drone operated by Tron Future’s team completed a 5.5 km flight in 30 minutes in a GPS-denied environment, identifying 10 ground targets in the process, while showing stable and precise performance, earning high praise from the judges.

Tron Future Tech collaborated with Dr. Cheng Teng-Hu’s team from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, integrating the company’s self-developed flight control modules and visual recognition-based positioning technology to develop a drone capable of autonomous navigation under severe electromagnetic interference.

As electronic warfare tactics continue to evolve on the Ukrainian battlefield, both sides are quickly advancing their respective drone and anti-drone capabilities. This highlights the growing importance of developing flight control technologies that can maintain stable flight and perform missions even in GNSS-denied scenarios, a key trend in global military drone development.

This also marks a significant breakthrough for Tron Future’s anti drone solution, adding physical “hard kill” capabilities to its current electromagnetic interference “soft kill” skill sets. Additionally, it lays the foundation for future countermeasures against drone swarm, especially Tron Future’s vision of leveraging coordinated drone swarm to intercept incoming swarms. As visual positioning technology continues to advance, the precision and coordination of Tron Future’s drones will improve, expanding their use in various combat scenarios.

Moreover, both electromagnetic interference-based soft kill measures and drone-based hard kill measures demonstrate flexible and cost-effective defense advantages, offering greater possibilities for future applications in very short-range air defense (VSHORAD).