Daon INC Participates in Army Chief of Staff Drone Piloting Competition and Combat Demonstration

Next-generation domestic swarm drone specialized brand SWARM-X tailsitter-type VTOL XV600 (left), XV1200 (right)

Daon INC announced that it participated in the Army Chief of Staff Drone Piloting Competition's private sector drone combat demonstration, which was held on June 26.

With the status of drones as game changers on the battlefield highlighted by recent conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran-Israel war, the Army organized this competition to strengthen soldiers' real combat capabilities and to secure advanced civilian drone technologies. The event consisted of internal military contests and demonstrations by private companies. Approximately 200 participants, including soldiers, defense officials, and drone industry professionals, attended to experience and exchange a variety of technologies.

At this demonstration, Daon INC showcased the next-generation swarm drone brand 'SWARM-X' series, specifically the tailsitter fixed-wing VTOL models XV600 and XV1200. The drones deployed in this combat demonstration were equipped with a self-developed FC (Flight Controller), designed to optimize the performance of cost-effective drones and expand their potential for practical deployment.

A company representative explained, "The XV600 is a drone suitable for squad-level operations, capable of carrying a grenade-class payload, which allows for direct collision and precision strikes on targets during high-speed flight. The XV1200 can be equipped with a mortar shell-class payload and is a fixed-wing drone capable of vertical takeoff and landing. When deployed, it can provide direct combat utility to military forces."

Daon INC plans to further develop a combat mission execution system that links swarm reconnaissance drones with loitering munitions, based on domestically produced Edge AI semiconductors. This system is centered on autonomous guidance technology, where swarm reconnaissance drones detect key targets such as combat troops, tanks, and armored vehicles, and loitering munitions strike these targets using a 'Fire-and-Forget' method.

Yang Chanyeol, CEO of Daon INC, stated, "We plan to implement an all-in-one system that integrates image processing, flight control, mission execution, and AI interconnection functions by equipping drones with NPU-based Edge AI semiconductors. Through this, we are developing autonomous mission-executing swarm drone technology based on small LLMs (sLLM, small Large Language Model) with the goal of achieving technological completion."