The Pentagon has selected four non-traditional defense contractors to develop cost-effective drones: Anduril Industries, Integrated Solutions for Systems, Leidos Dynetics, and Zone 5 Technologies. These companies were chosen out of over 100 applicants. The drones will be an “enterprise test vehicle” that can be quickly and cheaply produced, flying 500 nautical miles with a kinetic payload and using commercial subsystems.
The current drone-building process at the Pentagon is hindered by “exquisite components” and labor-intensive manufacturing. The selected vendors will utilize commercial off-the-shelf components and modern design approaches to enable high-rate production. Test flights for the drones will begin later this summer and fall, with the possibility of entering the Replicator program to produce thousands of low-cost drones.
Anduril and Leidos Dynetics expressed enthusiasm for the project, highlighting the production of a highly producible and capable drone. However, Integrated Solutions for Systems and Zone 5 Technologies did not respond to requests for comment. Some traditional defense contractors, like Northrop Grumman, have acknowledged that they will not compete in the low-cost, non-survivable drone market, opting to focus on more specialized systems.
