In an announcement, Sheehy said the Special Operations Forces Concealed Carry Act would align the status of special operators with active and retired law enforcement officers, who are permitted under federal law to carry concealed weapons across state lines.

“Our elite warfighters never stop serving, and this bill ensures the law reflects the trust they’ve earned through a lifetime of sacrifice,” Sheehy said, adding that “Special Operations Forces spend their careers protecting the American people with unmatched discipline, judgment, and professionalism.”

According to Sheehy’s office, when Congress passed the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, or LEOSA, in 2004, lawmakers recognized that active and retired officers may need to respond to violent crime or terrorists while off duty. They also recognized that officers face ongoing threats from individuals they previously encountered while on duty.

Sheehy’s office explained that his bill would build on the framework created by LEOSA because individuals in special operations “have completed rigorous selection and possess firearms training that meets or exceeds professional law enforcement standards.”

Congressman Pat Harrigan, a Republican from North Carolina, filed a companion bill in April. In a statement, he said that “it makes no sense that an active or retired SEAL or Green Beret, someone who spent a career mastering firearms under the most demanding conditions in the world, has no equivalent recognition under federal law.”

While the bill would extend concealed carry privileges, it would also require participants to complete annual active-duty-level firearms qualification tests, as well as a Justice Department concealed carry class.

During Sheehy’s bid for a Senate seat in 2024, The Washington Post published an article about an incident in which Sheehy was cited at Glacier National Park for illegally discharging a firearm. According to the report, the park ranger investigating the incident interviewed Sheehy at an emergency room in Kalispell shortly after the shooting in October 2015.

“(Sheehy) stated he was arranging gear in the back of his vehicle, and that the gun (Colt Revolver, .45 long) had slipped down the pile of gear, hit the ground and fired. The round hit him in the right forearm and did not pass through,” the ranger wrote in a narrative with the citation.

The ranger also told The Washington Post that the revolver that Sheehy said had accidentally discharged was loaded except for a single missing bullet.

When confronted with the details, Sheehy told reporters that he lied about accidentally discharging his firearm and that the shooting injury actually occurred during a deployment in Afghanistan. He said he didn’t report it because a teammate’s negligent discharge caused the injury, and he didn’t want to get his teammate in trouble.

“I guess the only thing I’m guilty of is admitting to doing something I never did,” Sheehy told the newspaper. He added: “It was a small price to pay to make sure that a whole team of really great Americans didn’t get dragged through the mud over this.”

Although Congress authorized CMP to sell surplus weapons — and has sold 1911 handguns and M1 Garands in the past — this is the first time it will sell the historic M14.

Jerry O’Keefe, CMP’s chairman and chief executive officer, explained that the challenge was that the rifles were originally serialized as fully automatic firearms.

Although civilians can legally own machine guns, federal law requires both buyers and sellers to adhere to strict regulatory policies.

“We’ve spent an extraordinary amount of time and effort thinking through every step in this process, working with our partners to get everybody in agreement,” O’Keefe said.

He explained that they worked closely with their federal partners and walked them “through every step in the conversion process” to show how they will make the M14s “permanently and irreversibly semi-automatic.”

The federal government created CMP in 1903 to promote marksmanship training among civilians, and in 1996, Congress privatized the organization and gave it authority to sell surplus military firearms.

According to a 2019 Government Accountability Office report, the Army has transferred more than 700,000 rifles and handguns to CMP, which has generated about $196.8 million in revenue from their sale.

While CMP initially announced that the M14s could be available as early as this year, O’Keefe clarified that the first sales will most likely occur in early 2027.

“We expected the demand for this to be extraordinary and frankly, the feedback on all the different forums and websites and YouTubes has even exceeded what we expected,” he said. “So we now know that we’re going to have to spend a few months building up a pretty large inventory of converted guns before we go to first sale.”

The M14 has a complicated military history but remains popular among firearms enthusiasts. Chambered in 7.62mm, it was developed from the M1 Garand and replaced the World War II-era rifle as the standard U.S. service rifle around 1957.

The M14 was intended to serve as an all-purpose infantry weapon. Its select-fire option was part of an effort to consolidate several weapons used by American troops into a single platform.

Ian McCollum, a firearms historian and host of the YouTube channel Forgotten Weapons, explained that the military wanted to combine the capabilities of the M1 carbine, M1 Garand, M3 Grease Gun and M1918A2 BAR into a single weapon.

That effort produced the M14 Infantry Rifle, as well as the M15 Light Machine Gun, which was essentially an M14 equipped with a bipod and pistol grip.

The M14, however, had a short service life. Springfield Armory — the historic military arsenal, not the current manufacturer that produces modernized M14s — designed the rifle but was not equipped for the kind of mass production the military ultimately demanded.

Once other manufacturers got involved, though, they made parts of inconsistent quality, which led to inconsistencies in the rifle’s overall performance.

The military ultimately bought about 1.38 million M14s before ending the program in 1964. The rifle entered combat during the Vietnam War, but its size and materials made it ill-suited for the dense jungle environment compared to the M16, which began replacing it in 1967.

“Tromping through a jungle, you are better off with something a little bit shorter than an M14, so ultimately, the M14 would end up being the U.S. service rifle with the shortest active service life of anything that the U.S. has ever issued,” McCollum said.

Many of the remaining M14s were subsequently destroyed, sold overseas or transferred to foreign militaries, according to McCollum. They also briefly made an appearance during the Global War on Terror. M14 variants were used in Afghanistan and Iraq, primarily as designated marksman and sniper rifles.

That makes CMP’s planned sale particularly notable for enthusiasts who have long viewed the M14 as an iconic American service rifle.

Brian C. Sheetz, the editor-in-chief of the American Rifleman, called it “one of the best general-purpose rifle choices for uncertain times” because it “offers a level of utility and capability — all in an understated package — not commonly encountered in many more modern firearms.”

When the surplus M14s finally go on sale, O’Keefe said they will cost around $2,000 apiece, and buyers should be able to purchase up to two rifles at a time.

Brig. Gen. Matthew Ross, the director of the Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the Defense Department’s lead organization for countering drones, described the handbook as “not a technical manual or detailed set of rules” but rather “a common foundation to shape our collective approach to this challenge.”

Using conversational language, freehand sketches and relatable references, Small Drones, Big Problems: A First Principles Approach to Countering-UAS makes the information approachable.

Inside, the handbook introduces the concepts of drones and drone protections. It offers guidance such as “The Four Ps of Drone Threats” and “The Five Ds of Protecting Against Drones,” as well as simple definitions of technical concepts and procedures.

But more importantly, it offers a perspective.

In the opening chapter, the handbook shares a brief anecdote from 1939 about the “happy time” for Nazi Germany because Allied Forces did not yet know how to react to U-boat operations.

“But the ‘happy time’ didn’t last forever,” the handbook reads. “British and American ships learned to adapt to the threat by implementing a convoy system to protect shipping lines, using escort ships, and developing new technologies like sonar, radar, and depth charges.”

The handbook grounds the subject for drone threats, explaining that technology in warfare has always changed, but weapons and equipment don’t win wars alone.

“Learning militaries adapt and innovate, repurposing existing defenses and building new ones to address vulnerabilities exploited by drones,” the handbook reads. “They change how they think about drones and how they fight.”

While a majority of the 100 pages is dedicated to applying tips and techniques to prevent or avoid drone attacks, it also offers a perspective on artificial intelligence, or AI.

“There is a temptation to talk about AI as either a savior or a threat, either a magical solution that fixes everything or a frightening force that removes human control. Neither description is useful. In practice, AI is far more neutral than either of these extreme perspectives suggest,” the handbook reads.

The handbook describes AI as a tool meant for helping analyze data by recognizing patterns and making predictions to assist humans in decision making.

“It does not replace judgment and disciplined decision-making. It does not understand intent or consequences. It does not decide what matters. What it does well is sort, compare, correlate, and highlight signals that would otherwise be lost in the noise,” the handbook reads.

The handbook argues that AI tools can be used for “helping humans apply the principles of detection, denial, disruption, defeat, and discipline more effectively.”

“When protecting against drones, AI is not only useful in moments of crisis, when stress is high in a (Base Defense Operations Center) or when a patrol is already reacting. Its value extends across the entire protection challenge, long before a drone poses a threat,” the handbook reads.

Army Maj. Joe Amoroso, deputy chief of strategic initiatives for JIATF 401, said the handbook offers “vital first principles” to help in “countering the defining threat of our time.”

“It is crucial to build a common foundation for counter-drone efforts as we work with the entire government and interagency partners to respond to this growing threat,” he said.

The disclosure offered a glimpse into how generative AI is being used by the military. It came in a court filing supporting the Justice Department’s effort to dismiss a lawsuit targeting a Mississippi power plant, also owned by Musk, that supplies electricity to data centers used to run the AI system.

Cameron Stanley, the Defense Department’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, made the disclosure in a statement filed in support of the government’s motion. He called the example “a testament to the greatly increased operational efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model.”

He added that if the lawsuit succeeds in shutting down the power plant, Grok’s parent company, xAI, would lose capacity to train and develop future versions of the AI tool. “And if xAI is hindered from continuing to improve and upgrade Grok, including the Grok Gov Model, [the Department of Defense’s] ability to meet its national security mission and keep pace with adversaries will be impaired,” Stanley said.

Although Stanley did not elaborate on how military operators used Grok during combat missions, he instead described it as a “critical national security” tool.

“For example, it is deployed in Maven Smart Systems (MSS) to support vital national security missions, including targeting, intelligence, readiness, and recruitment,” he said.

Stanley explained that MSS users process nearly two billion tokens on the Defense Department’s top-secret network each day. Tokens are units used to measure AI processing. “This amount of AI usage is roughly equivalent to 1.5 billion words or up to 6 million pages of text being processed by the technology,” he said.

The Justice Department filed Stanley’s statement alongside its motion on June 15. In the filing, government attorneys argued the lawsuit “threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of Defense’s military operations.”

The lawsuit, filed in April by the NAACP and its Mississippi chapter, alleges that xAI and MZX Tech failed to obtain required permits before installing and operating 27 gas-powered turbines at a facility in Southaven, Mississippi, roughly 13 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee.

The facility, known as the Colossus Gas Plant, powers two data centers — Colossus I and Colossus II — used to operate the Grok chatbot. The complaint said xAI also plans to build a third data center closer to the plant.

The organizations argued the turbines are operating without adequate pollution controls and are emitting harmful pollutants that pose risks to public health. They say the facility operates near an area with “tens of thousands of people” and has the potential to emit more than 1,700 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

They contend that a Clean Air Act permit would require the plant to use the “best available control technology,” or BACT, to reduce emissions to acceptable levels.

“Had Defendants obtained a permit, they would have been held to this standard,” the complaint said. “By simply not applying for — or receiving — a permit, xAI and MZX Tech have avoided subjecting these twenty-seven unpermitted turbines to a BACT determination.”

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the Justice Department intervened because enforcement of federal law falls to the executive branch, not private interest groups. “The Department of Justice is committed to maintaining that constitutional order while protecting national security and promoting American energy and innovation,” he said.

Justice Department officials added in a press release that the state of Mississippi is charged with administering the permitting program and decided no permit was required.

Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, said the government “will not sit idly by while private organizations use environmental laws to undermine our national security.”

In a statement, officials with Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center, the legal groups representing the NAACP in the lawsuit, framed the motion as the Trump administration’s attempting to protect wealthy, well-connected companies from being held to account.

They noted that instead of disputing xAI’s permit violations and allegations of unlawful polluting, the Justice Department expressed “vague” concerns about national security.

“This isn’t about national security,” said Laura Thoms, director of enforcement for Earthjustice. “It’s a desperate attempt to protect wealthy corporations like xAI from obeying our bedrock environmental laws.”

Last year, the Defense Department awarded xAI — along with other AI companies — a contract of up to $200 million for developing “agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas.” Around that same time, the White House revealed its plan for integrating AI into workflows across the federal government.

Kym Meyer, SELC’s litigation director, said the motion contradicts “decades of well-established legal precedent,” and called it “an unprecedented attack on the public’s ability to defend themselves from illegal pollution.”

The Defense Innovation Unit announced in a LinkedIn post last month that the winners — Bravo Ordnance, Kela Technologies, Kraken Kinetics, Mountain Horse Solutions and Northrop Grumman — developed “cost-effective, mass-producible, and easily integrated lethal payloads for small drones.”

According to the program’s Industry Day presentation, military officials reviewed submissions from 17 vendors. Evaluators examined both the payloads themselves and how they interfaced with various Electronic Safe and Arm Devices, or ESADs, as well as their compatibility with drones being considered in the program’s broader competition.

Although the cash prize was just $10,000 — a modest sum compared to the scale of the Pentagon’s investment — the selected designs will be presented to companies participating in the program as “preferred munitions” for one-way attack drones.

Northrop Grumman’s winning design, dubbed the Common UAS Payload, was built to require “no redesigns” and is “ready to integrate and deploy immediately,” according to a statement from Tanya Santers, the company’s director of fuzes and warheads.

The company added that it has invested more than $2 billion over the past several years in technologies and manufacturing facilities to meet the program’s requirements and accelerate delivery timelines.

Unlike Northrop Grumman, which enters the competition with an established defense-industrial base and decades of experience producing munitions for the Pentagon, most of the other winners are relatively young companies hoping to capitalize on the military’s growing demand for drone warfare technology.

The Texas-based Bravo Ordnance launched in 2025 with $3.5 million in venture capital. The company bills itself as capable of creating custom warheads in “two weeks or less.”

Founder Devan Plantamura, a Navy and Army veteran, told GQ magazine that his experience working at military technology startups convinced him the industry focused too heavily on drone platforms and not enough on the weapons they carry.

Without a warhead, he said, an attack drone is “just a flying object.”

The Israeli defense startup Kela Technologies was founded in July 2024 following the Oct. 7 attack as a software company focused on helping Western militaries rapidly integrate commercial technology into existing military systems.

The company quickly attracted backing from Silicon Valley investors as well as IQT, the CIA’s investment arm.

In just two years, Kela has raised roughly $100 million, secured an additional $200 million in financing and earned a reported valuation of $1.2 billion.

Although software integration remains its primary business, Kela was also named a winner of the Lethality Prize. The company reportedly partnered with fellow Israeli defense firm Autonomous Guard, which specializes in border security technology, including drones.

The North Carolina-based Kraken Kinetics was founded in 2023 to manufacture warheads for drone combat. Since then, the company has heavily promoted its Terminus payload, a warhead designed for first-person-view attack drones.

Kraken has demonstrated the system with Army Rangers, Marines and other military units, emphasizing its ability to be quickly attached to commercial drone platforms through its ESAD.

The Colorado-based Mountain Horse Solutions is one of the older companies in the group. Founded in 2014, about a year after its parent company, Global Ordnance, the firm initially focused on personal protective equipment before expanding into military drones in 2025.

That year, Mountain Horse and its partner Rotron Aerospace secured a spot on the Defense Department’s Blue UAS list of approved drone systems.

For the Lethality Prize, Mountain Horse partnered with several other companies to develop a payload system designed to work with “any drone on the market.”

In a statement, Bill Allen, Mountain Horse’s president, called the challenge “exactly the kind of problem set we are built for — delivering adaptable, scalable lethal solutions that keep pace with the lightning-fast evolution of drone warfare.”

The Defense Department launched the Drone Dominance program in July 2025 and in December of that year, revealed a three-phase effort to acquire roughly 300,000 drones by 2028.

For the first phase, the Pentagon invited 26 companies to demonstrate their systems. In the second and current phase, military officials are evaluating 79 drones from 49 companies for both long-range and close-quarters missions.

Over the remaining phases, the Pentagon plans to narrow the field to a select group of vendors. According to Pentagon officials, the goal is to reduce the average cost of a military drone from roughly $5,000 to $2,300.

The third phase of the Drone Dominance program is set to begin around November 2026, with final testing six months after that.

In a new solicitation, SOCOM is asking for a new M4 upper receiver capable of firing “emerging hyper velocity ammunition” modeled after the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge.

SOCOM said the Hypervelocity Improved Carbine, or HICAR, program will “leverage the performance benefits of current and future experimental hypervelocity rounds” and called it “vital to addressing future capability gaps on the battlefield.”

When fired out of a standard-issued M4, the military cartridge known as M855A1 has “a recognized effective range of approximately 300 meters,” but SOCOM wants the new upper designed to fire hypervelocity ammunition known as M855A1+.

“This weapon system will allow an operator to effectively engage targets at extended distances while maintaining the portability and ergonomics of a lightweight carbine,” the solicitation says, adding the desired effective range is “600 meters and beyond.”

“The goal is to integrate advancements in material science and weapon design to provide operators with a technically superior individual weapon system,” SOCOM adds.

In the solicitation, SOCOM says M855A1+ is loaded to 82,000 pounds per square inch. That measurement refers to the amount of pressure generated to push the bullet out of the casing. While more pressure results in greater velocity, it can also damage a firearm not designed to handle it.

Last month, SOCOM said it will begin fielding the MK24 Medium Range Gas Gun Assault rifle, which is part of a family of squad weapons chambered in 6.5mm Creedmoor and .338 Norma Magnum, before the end of this fiscal year.

Also, both the Army and Marine Corps have been shifting away from the M4 with the adoption of the Next Generation Squad Weapons and M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, respectively.

For the HICAR program, white paper submissions are due June 8 and SOCOM will host pitch meetings Sept. 15 and 16.

During testing, the M4 uppers will fire 600 rounds of primarily M855A1+ and some M855A1.

SOCOM spokesman Navy Cmdr. Joe Vermette told Task & Purpose the MRGG-A will completely replace the MK17 SCAR. He added that SOCOM is “pursuing a rapid fielding method” to “multiple (Special Operational Force) components.”

Last August, SOCOM awarded the Iowa-based LMT Defense a 10-year contract to the tune of $92 million for the MRGG-A. At SOCOM’s request, the rifle features a swappable barrel, allowing operators to change between firing 7.62mm and 6.5mm Creedmoor cartridges.

“This thing isn’t just a gun, it’s a deployment package,” said Joe Hajny, an LMT Defense spokesman, about the multi-caliber chambering in an interview with Classic Firearms at this year’s Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show.

Hajny added that SOCOM prioritized “the quick barrel change.” He explained the logic is that when SOCOM operators are “out with the partner forces that don’t have access to 6.5, the field environment might switch, they could change the caliber if need be.”

With that, he said an operator can change the barrel in about a minute. As for the barrel itself, Hajny explained that it measures in at 14.5 inches, so the rifle feels more like an M4 carbine but operates like an M110 semi-automatic sniper rifle, which also uses the 7.62 cartridge.

The most notable change is SOCOM’s adoption of the 6.5mm Creedmoor.

SOCOM reportedly began testing the cartridge along with almost two dozen others in 2017 and found that it delivered the best overall performance at ranges 1,000 meters.

“(The MRGG-A) is a big one that I think is going to trickle down to more of your mainline units down the road,” Hajny said.

Other services have also been shifting away from legacy cartridges like 7.62 and 5.56. The Army, for example, has been transitioning to its Next Generation Squad Weapons chambered in 6.8x51mm.

In 2021, SOCOM hosted an assessment event with its partner Special Operations Forces Works, or SOFWERX, to identify small arms weapon systems capable of greater accuracy at ranges past 1,200 meters.

Along with the MRGG-A, SOCOM expressed interest in a new sniper rifle and lightweight machine gun. After years of testing, the organization contracted Geissele Automatics for the MRGG Sniper rifle in 6.5 and Sig Sauer for the LMG-Medium in .338 Norma Magnum.

In a recent interview with The War Zone, Lt. Col. Alan Wood, SOCOM’s program manager for lethality, explained that like the 6.5mm, the .338 is “more effective on target” at “greater ranges” and the system overall — the rifle and ammo — could weigh “hundreds of pounds” less than the heavy .50-caliber round. Yet, SOCOM has paused fielding on the LMG.

As for the MRGG-A, Wood said, “It’s just a phenomenal, accurate weapon system for our SOF operators. All the components are super excited about this one.”

Garrett Smith, Reveal’s chief executive officer, explained that the “milestone represents years of partnership” needed to develop the technology.

“Identifi ensures that biometric identification and verification remain accessible, secure and mission-ready across the spectrum of operations,” he said.

The Identifi tool is an application programmed on a mobile device that allows operators to check and review fingerprints, analyze faces and voices, and scan irises in the field. They can upload or cross reference the information with a Defense Department database known as the Automated Biometric Identification System, or ABIS, to identify individuals or enemy combatants.

In an email to Military Times, McKenna Miller, the company’s communication director, explained that Identifi was originally developed by the company DFL Technology. DFL won a contract from Special Operations Forces Works, or SOFWERX, a non-profit that partners with SOCOM to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors for technological solutions.

Using input from SOCOM subject matter experts, the company built a prototype for Identifi. In 2023, they entered it into SOCOM’s Tactical Biometric Event, which was an open competition for industry with a technical and operational evaluation, and won. A year later, Reveal acquired DFL, and they have been working on the project together ever since.

Although using biometric data for identification is nothing new, the way in which the information is digitally collected and stored is.

Smith told Axios that when he deployed to Afghanistan with the Marine Corps, they used decades-old technology, so the hope is the Marines and Army will also adopt Reveal’s biometric tool. He called SOCOM the “trendsetter” for the U.S. military and intelligence communities.

Miller declined to disclose the value of SOCOM’s Identifi contract. But, according to a search of USA Spending, since 2019 Reveal has been awarded some 15 contracts totaling more than $13 million from the DoD, General Services Administration and Small Business Administration.

Since launching in 2018, Reveal said it has increased its revenue tenfold year over year. Last July, it announced that it had raised some $30 million in funding and with that investment, it has doubled its workforce to include more than a hundred employees.

According to Reveal’s announcement, SOCOM has already begun fielding the Identifi tool and it’s planning for broader deployment throughout the fiscal year.

According to Monday’s press release, the decision to award the contract was made by the Joint Interagency Task Force 401, or JIATF-401, a Defense Department organization charged with researching, testing, and procuring counter-drone technology.

Perennial will deliver a range of AI-enabled counter-unmanned aerial systems currently used by U.S. forces. These include Merops interceptors, Bumblebee quadcopters and Hornet midrange strike drones.

In a statement, the company said the contract “validates the operational reliability of that technology in the world’s most actively contested environments,” and “deepens the existing strategic partnership” between it and the Defense Department.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of JIATF-401, in the statement called drones “the defining threat of our time,” and reiterated the need to maintain partnerships with companies like Perennial.

“We must be proactive with creating a layered defense that deploy and scale low-cost, attritable air-to-air drone interceptors at all our facilities at home and abroad,” he added.

In December, the Pentagon launched the billion-dollar Drone Dominance initiative to equip troops with cheap, disposable drones and prepare them for technological changes on the battlefield, many of which were demonstrated in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Another part of the initiative included investing heavily in the domestic drone industry, so within the next few years, equipment could be produced at scale for significantly less money.

But the Iran war further accelerated the U.S. military’s demand for the types of drones combatants have been using to attack or harass troops, destroy equipment or infrastructure and conduct surveillance, among other things.

During last month’s budget hearings, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll told lawmakers that Perennial began rapidly scaling production of its Merops drones.

Perennial, originally launched by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as Project Eagle, developed the Merops interceptor for Ukrainian forces to counter Russia’s one-way attack drones known as Shaheds.

The U.S. military is using the interceptors the same way against Iran’s Sheheds.

When answering questions about the investment, Driscoll described a war of attrition, saying the Merops currently costs about $15,000 per unit, whereas a Shahed costs somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000.

Additionally, JIATF-401 awarded Perennial a separate $5.2 million contract in January for the Bumblebee V2 counter-drone system, and the Army reportedly tested the Hornet midrange strike drones in March.

The company has also opened manufacturing operations in Europe through a partnership aimed at expanding production of its Merops drones.

Perennial’s contract will end in three years or whenever the Pentagon pays out the full $500 million, whichever comes first.

In the announcement, Brian Hoffman, chief engineer of NSWC Crane’s Man-Portable Weapons, explained that the ammo works much like a shotshell in that it disperses a cluster of projectiles, but it’s designed to be fired from a service rifle or machine gun instead of a shotgun.

“The intent with our ammunition was to simply give operators a better chance of killing drones with cost-effective products that can be used in existing weapons,” Hoffman said in the release. “If you aren’t the world’s best shot or don’t have a lot of experience engaging aerial targets, your odds go up immediately with DKC.”

The cartridge’s design, coupled with the range and velocity of typical centerfire rifle ammo, increases the probability of “hit and kill” against drones, Hoffman said.

In a recent demonstration at Indiana’s Camp Atterbury, DKC achieved a 92% success rate.

Hoffman explained that the DKC product line is “already mature” and applicable for not just killing drones but also “home defense, personal protection and hunting.”

And if it sounds like he’s pitching the product line, that’s because he is. The other part of NSWC Crane’s announcement is that it’s looking for partners to manufacture DKC ammo.

The tech link

Hoffman explained that the Navy typically relies on the Army for small-caliber ammunition under the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition directive. However, it procures ammo through government contracts with industry partners if not supported by the SMCA.

For that reason, NSWC Crane’s announcement was also featured on TechLink, a Defense Department-funded organization run by Montana State University that helps businesses license technology from federal laboratories.

Using the website, manufacturers can license and commercialize products, like DKC ammo, which have been fully developed and patented by the federal government. The intent behind the project is to help veterans, the military and small businesses.

As small drones are now seen as a common weapon on the battlefield, military and other agency leaders project needing millions of DKC rounds, Hoffman said.

“Ongoing conflicts abroad and operational requirements along the U.S. southern border highlight the immediate utility of DKC and its enhanced yet cost-effective capabilities,” he said in the release.

Exactly who is going to manufacture the ammo has not yet been announced. However, Hoffman added that NSWC Crane recently hosted a DKC-licensing event attended by several U.S. ammo makers, and they received even more interest because of the announcement.

Still, Hoffman said DKC ammo production will evolve in the not-too-distant future.

“Given projected requirements, meeting total DKC quantities will likely involve a combination of (Government‑Owned, Contractor‑Operated) production and licensed industry partners operating in parallel,” he said.