Catalyst Pathfinder-supported project wins Army innovation competition

ADELPHI, Md. – For the sixth time, an innovation initiated through the Army’s Catalyst Pathfinder program won the XVIII Airborne Corps Dragon’s Lair competition.

The Dragon's Lair competition is a “Shark Tank”-style competition, launched in 2020 by the XVIII Airborne Corps, to give service members of all ranks a platform to present their innovative ideas and concepts to civilian technical experts and senior military leaders. Dragon’s Lair 12 was held last month at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

This year's Dragon's Lair winner, the Night Haunter project, began as an idea submitted by a Soldier through the Catalyst Soldier Innovation Platform. The concept was then developed, designed and built entirely within the Airborne Innovation Lab at Fort Bragg, a collaborative Design, Innovation, Research and Technology, or DIRT, lab supporting tactical innovation and design.

The Night Haunter is a small, specialized device or payload designed to be dropped from a drone, or small uncrewed aerial system, and stuck into the ground. Like a miniature, remote-controlled toolbox, the Night Haunter can be precisely placed and activated to perform specific tasks on the battlefield without a Soldier needing to be physically present.

The effort marked the first Dragon’s Lair winning project in the Airborne Innovation Lab uniting Soldiers from separate commands. Submitted by Sgt. 1st Class Brian Potts of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group, the project was developed with Spc. Alex Kimbirskyi of the 82nd Airborne Division, whose technical expertise proved essential.

Even before winning Dragon’s Lair 12, the design was shared with other units for adaptation and use.

Managed by DEVCOM ARL in partnership with the Civil-Military Innovation Institute and Acme General Corp., the Catalyst Pathfinder program bridges fundamental research, applied science, and real-world Army needs, ensuring that cutting-edge science to into solutions that reach Soldiers faster and more efficiently.

The program empowers Soldiers to solve real-world tactical problems by providing access to expert engineering and support, and to rapid prototyping through 13 DIRT labs across eight states and three countries.

Pathfinder-supported innovations, including a secure mortar storage and rapid-deployment system for the Infantry Squad Vehicle, ground-based vehicle camouflage and AI-enabled targeting capabilities, have now won six consecutive Dragon’s Lair competitions.

DEVCOM ARL is the Army’s sole fundamental research laboratory serving as the nexus of science between the military, academia and industry. Operating under U.S. Army Futures and Concepts Command and the U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command, ARL executes globally recognized research to accelerate delivery of war winning, disruptive technologies for tomorrow’s Army.

For information, visit the Army Research Laboratory website.