Northrop Grumman has been selected as one of five preferred payload providers under the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Program Lethality Prize Challenge, the company announced Monday.

The selection positions Northrop Grumman to help scale munitions production for the program’s rapidly expanding small UAS fleet.

The company will deliver its Common UAS Payload, a standardized, off-the-shelf fuze and effects module designed for rapid integration across multiple unmanned systems. The payload uses mature energetics and rugged electronics, enabling production at the speed and volume the program requires.

The Drone Dominance Program is a $1 billion DoD initiative administered through the Defense Innovation Unit focused on fielding low-cost, consumable unmanned aerial systems at scale. The program aims to field more than 200,000 drones by 2027. Northrop Grumman said it has invested more than $2 billion over recent years in solid rocket motor and munitions technologies and facility modernization in support of accelerated delivery timelines.