FOLA, W.Va. (AP) — As Spot, Boston Dynamics’ dog-like quadruped robot, nimbly paced its way across rocky terrain, a large unmanned aerial vehicle silently hovered 100 feet overhead.
In the distance, a pair of AH-64 Apache helicopters could be seen orbiting above the ridgeline. Somewhere in the forest below, 220 soldiers from the elite 101st Airborne Division, who had been airlifted to three onsite landing zones, were taking part in a training scenario. Their mission: Locate and destroy an enemy’s air defense system.
DIRT Days 23 was in full swing April 20 at the Fola Experimentation Facility, a former Consol Energy surface mine complex that produced 105 million tons of coal before closing in 2012. Later repurposed as a military training site by the West Virginia National Guard, the site is now operated in partnership with the Civil-Military Innovation Institute, or CMI2, a…
