Pentagon launches $1B program to build industrial base for U.S. attack drones

The Defense Department is launching a $1 billion program to develop U.S.-built drones that can conducted one-way attack missions, the kind of missions that have been highly effective in the Ukraine war.

The new Drone Dominance Program is part of an effort to accelerate the growth of the U.S. defense industrial base. The goal is to outfit combat units with “cheap and effective U.S.-made UAS,” according to a new request for information posted Tuesday.

DOD plans to place $1 billion in fixed-price orders under an Other Transaction Authority procurement in four phases over the next four years. The department is working with the S2MARTS consortium to hold the competition.

Each phase begins with a gauntlet challenge, where invited companies will compete. Each phase will end with a completed delivery of production-quality small unmanned aerial systems.

Phase one begins on Feb. 26 and will involve no more than 25 companies. DOD is looking to buy 30,000 drones at $5,000 each. Phase one will end on July 26 with awards for up to 12 companies.

The number of units in each phase increases with the price per unit decreasing in phases three and four. Phase two is from Aug. 26 to Jan. 27, 2027 and covers 60,000 units. The price per unit remains at $5,000.

But for phase three (Feb. 27, 2027, to July 27, 2027), the units increase to 100,000 and the price drops to $3,000.

Phase four will run from Aug. 27, 2027, to Jan. 28, 2028 with 150,000 units priced at $2,300 per unit.

Companies will only be paid for the delivered drones.

During the demonstrations, the drones will be flown by military operators and will evaluated on the ability to complete various mission scenarios. The scenarios include a 6.2-mile strike range (10 kilometers) in open territory and a 3,280-foot strike range (1 kilometer) in urban settings.

The drones need to carry payloads of about 4.4 pounds, or 2 kilograms.

DOD is using the RFI to collect comments and plans to release the solicitation on Dec. 17. Selections for phase one are scheduled for the week of Jan. 26.

The phases are not elimination rounds, and DOD says that companies not picked for one phase should participate in later phases.

At the end of the Drone Dominance Program, DOD wants multiple companies who have a demonstrated ability to produce low-cost small UAS at scale. This lets the service branches integrate those capabilities using a commercial procurement model, according to the RFI.

Responses to the RFI are due Wednesday, Dec. 10.