Defense specialists will test solutions for detecting drones, autonomous drones based on artificial intelligence and robotic systems for identifying land mines, as well as other inventions in the field, during the Defense-X 2026 international hackathon, organized by the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy in Sibiu over June 21 – 23, a press release informs.

“The main novelty of the Defense-X 2026 edition is the introduction of a component dedicated to demonstrations and practical validation. This allows testing of developed solutions in a framework close to real operational conditions and facilitates direct dialogue between developers, end users and decision-makers. Through this approach, Defense-X consolidates its role as an accelerator of innovation in the defense field, contributing to the identification, validation and development of technologies with real implementation potential. Defense-X today represents more than a technological event. It is a platform for collaboration and connection between the military environment, universities, research institutes, startups and industry, with the aim of transforming technical expertise and innovative ideas into concrete capabilities for national security,” the press release reads.

According to the cited source, “participants will demonstrate innovative solutions in strategic areas such as cybersecurity and threat intelligence, autonomous systems and robotics, artificial intelligence for tactical communications and decision support, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) systems, electronic warfare and electromagnetic spectrum monitoring, simulation, training and virtual reality, as well as Edge AI and resilient digital infrastructure for field operations.”

Among the projects entered in the competition are AEGIS Drone – an autonomous drone equipped with cameras, radar and sensors for detecting and classifying threats using machine learning algorithms, PADEWar Team – a passive early warning network for detecting drones that uses Android smartphones as distributed sensors and SkyDetectors – a solution designed to integrate drones into controlled airspace.