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XTEND Supports British Army During Major Autonomous Strike Exercise, Advancing UK Operational Drone Warfare Capabilities
JFB Construction Holdings
Thu, July 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM GMT+5:30
6 min read
- JFB
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Successful Completion of Ex RHINO BIZZ Builds on Historic UK Live-Fire Milestone with 2 PARA, Validates the British Army’s First Long-Range Autonomous Strike Missions with Live Kinetic Payloads
TAMPA, Fla. and SWINDON, U.K., July 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — JFB Construction Holdings (Nasdaq: JFB) announced today that XTEND, a leader in software systems and artificial intelligence-powered robotics, successfully supported the British Army during Ex RHINO BIZZ, a major drone and electronic warfare exercise conducted at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) in Alberta, Canada
The exercise represents the latest milestone in XTEND’s expanding collaboration with the British Army following the historic live-fire demonstration conducted with the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) earlier this year, which marked the first live firing of an uncrewed aerial system by British forces in UK airspace
Conducted across the 2,700-square-kilometer (1,042-square-mile) BATUS training area, Ex RHINO BIZZ brought together approximately 350 soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade to train in next-generation combat operations reflecting lessons emerging from modern conflicts. The exercise combined autonomous systems, electronic warfare, contested communications and human-machine teaming to replicate increasingly realistic battlefield conditions and reflects the British Army’s continued evolution toward software-defined autonomous operations.
“Modern warfare is undergoing one of its most significant transformations in generations,” said Aviv Shapira, Co-Founder and CEO of XTEND. “Military advantage will increasingly belong to forces capable of integrating software-defined autonomy into everyday operations. The successful operational employment of our systems during Ex RHINO BIZZ demonstrates how AI-powered autonomy is evolving from technology demonstrations into operational capability, enabling armed forces to execute increasingly complex missions while keeping soldiers further from harm.”
During Ex RHINO BIZZ, soldiers from 2 PARA employed XTEND’s SCORPIO 1000 autonomous strike systems in seek-and-strike missions across one of the world’s largest military training areas, operating under realistic battlefield conditions that included electronic warfare and GNSS-denied scenarios. XTEND deployed five SCORPIO 1000 systems, operated independently by 2 PARA’s UAS Platoon without XTEND operational support, demonstrating the unit’s ability to independently employ the capability in realistic operational conditions.
