The United States Department of War announced on Tuesday, February 3, that it has invited 25 military and technology companies to participate in its first low-cost one-way attack drone (OWA Drone) program bidding. The program aims to rapidly expand the US military drone equipment inventory while strengthening the domestic drone industry.
These portable explosive-carrying drones have become common equipment on modern battlefields in recent years. For example, in the Ukrainian conflict, the Ukrainian military effectively used low-cost one-way attack drones to target higher-priced Russian military equipment and impede Russian advances. It is against this backdrop that the Pentagon is pushing for the rapid integration of related capabilities into the US military system.
The program is named the Drone Dominance Program (DDP), with a goal of delivering hundreds of thousands of expendable explosive drones to the US military by 2027.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth explained the program last December, highlighting that since the Cold War, the US military procurement strategy has been primarily focused on “quality over quantity.” However, the current era is dominated by “low-cost, expendable drones,” and the US cannot afford to lag behind in this field. Investment in proven cost-effective unmanned platforms is deemed necessary.
Hegseth emphasized in a memorandum in July last year that the drone competition is not just about technology but also about processes. The US military will prioritize the procurement of “effective systems,” emphasizing speed, scale, and combat lethality, free from bureaucratic constraints.
According to the Department of War, the Drone Dominance Program will progress through four stages. The first stage, codenamed “Gauntlet,” will assess drone systems submitted by various manufacturers and will be conducted as a practical test by frontline military personnel at Fort Benning in Georgia starting on February 18.
The first round of testing is expected to conclude in early March, following which the Pentagon plans to issue orders for prototype deliveries with a maximum value of $150 million. Equipment deliveries will commence and be completed in the following five months. As per the initial plan, 12 suppliers will be selected in the first stage to collectively produce 30,000 prototype drones, priced at around $5000 each.
As the program progresses, the US military hopes to see a continuous decrease in unit costs and a simultaneous increase in delivery quantity and combat effectiveness. After the first stage, the competition will narrow down to five suppliers, with a total production target of 150,000 drones priced at around $2300 each.
The entire four-stage program is expected to last approximately two years, ultimately delivering around 340,000 drones at a total cost of about $1.1 billion.
Among the 25 companies invited to participate in the first stage bidding, 23 are US-based, including ANNO.AI, Kratos SRE, Griffon Aerospace, Teal Drones, while only two are of foreign background, namely the Ukrainian Defense Drones Tech Corp, and XTEND REALITY INC., an Israeli-American corporation operating in the US.
(Acknowledgments to Ryan Morgan of the English Epoch Times for contributions to this article)