{"id":69512,"date":"2024-10-02T15:21:07","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T15:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/10\/02\/pentagon-taps-commercial-vendors-for-low-cost-throwaway-drones\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:09:26","slug":"pentagon-taps-commercial-vendors-for-low-cost-throwaway-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/unmanned\/2024\/10\/02\/pentagon-taps-commercial-vendors-for-low-cost-throwaway-drones\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon taps commercial vendors for low-cost, throwaway drones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pentagon officials want to build America\u2019s arsenal of cheap, disposable drones, staple weapons of the war in Ukraine, pinging commercial vendors for systems with mass-production potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Defense Innovation Unit released a solicitation this week <a href=\"https:\/\/www.diu.mil\/work-with-us\/open-solicitations\" target=\"_blank\">for one-way, uncrewed aerial systems<\/a> that can fly at ranges of 50 to 300 kilometers in low-bandwidth, GPS-denied environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRecent conflicts have highlighted the asymmetric impact low-cost, one-way unmanned aerial systems have on the modern battlefield,\u201d DIU said in the notice. \u201cThe Department of Defense must be able to employ low-cost precision effects at extended ranges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DIU plans to hold a live flyoff demonstration as soon as December to evaluate the proposed systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Small, one-way attack drones have featured heavily in recent conflicts \u2014 from Ukraine to the Middle East. Since last fall, the Iran-backed Houthi militia group has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/unmanned\/2024\/01\/08\/how-iranian-tech-empowers-houthi-drone-missile-attacks-in-the-red-sea\/\" target=\"_blank\">targeted commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea<\/a>, using aerial vehicles, uncrewed surface vessels and cruise missiles. Last week, the group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2024\/10\/01\/navy-warships-helped-take-down-irans-attack-on-israel-pentagon-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">launched what the Pentagon termed a \u201ccomplex attack\u201d on U.S. ships in the region<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the Pentagon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/pentagon\/2024\/09\/30\/small-drone-defense-is-next-in-pentagons-replicator-buying-push\/\" target=\"_blank\">would focus the next round of its Replicator effort<\/a> \u2014 a process for quickly fielding high-need technology at scale \u2014 on countering drone threats like these. But the department also recognizes the impact these systems can have and wants to stock up on its own supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cReliable, affordable, and adaptable long-range UAS platforms that allow for employment at scale will maximize operational flexibility for the joint force,\u201d DIU said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A DIU spokesperson told Defense News that while the drones the department wants could perform attack missions, it\u2019s also interested in systems that can fly electronic warfare, ISR and communications relay payloads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the solicitation, the vehicles should also be hard to detect and track, have several pathways for two-way communications and be equipped with mission planning software. Critically, the department wants modular systems that can integrate new hardware or software in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProprietary interfaces, message formatting or hardware that require vendor-specific licensing are not permitted,\u201d DIU said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The notice doesn\u2019t detail how many systems the department might buy and it doesn\u2019t set a cost target. The spokesperson said that omission was intentional because DIU\u2019s selections won\u2019t be based on the cost of a particular drone, but on the cost of the effect the platform achieves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe best way to think of what we\u2019re targeting is a cost per effect,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cIf we launch one $1M platform or ten $100k platforms and generate the same effect, then the cost per effect is the same and that\u2019s what we want to focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Officials at the Defense Innovation Unit plan to hold a live flyoff demonstration as soon as December to evaluate the proposed systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":27,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"9":{"categories":["unmanned","home"],"primary_category":"unmanned"}}},"categories":[7,160,33,36,19,27],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3468],"class_list":["post-69512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-newsletters","category-pentagon","category-unmanned"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IGRCWLDZINBDVIVJKJTXK5WAHM","arc_canonical_url":"\/unmanned\/2024\/10\/02\/pentagon-taps-commercial-vendors-for-low-cost-throwaway-drones\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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