The Marine Corps has selected three companies to compete for its light loitering munitions program, which seeks to equip small units with an armed drone for over-the-horizon fire missions. AeroVironment, Anduril Industries, and Teledyne FLIR will compete for the potential $249 million, five-year contract for the Organic Precision Fires-Light.
The light fires system is a man-packable, armed loitering drone for rifle squads and platoons. Loitering drones often have built-in warheads and strike a target by crashing into it, sometimes called suicide or kamikaze drones.
Teledyne FLIR Defense announced its selection for the contract in a recent press release, noting that the company would deliver the first 127 loitering munition systems for test and evaluation later this summer. The light system is only one part of a larger effort to provide loitering munitions to Marines.
The Marine Corps released its first request for information on the Organic Precision Fires-Mounted system in 2019. In 2021, Mistral Inc. and UVision LTD were awarded a contract to develop the mounted system, originally geared toward giving light armored reconnaissance battalions an armed drone capability.
