The U.S. Army has announced the selection of the Anduril Industries Ghost X and the PDW C-100 UAS to meet the Army’s Company-Level Small Uncrewed Aircraft System Directed Requirement (DR). This award is for Tranche 1 of the DR with a value of $14.417M.
The U.S. Army approved the Company-Level sUAS DR supporting the Brigade Combat Teams in June 2023 to deliver immediate, commercially available capability to meet operational requirements. Specifically, the Co Level sUAS DR enables maneuver companies to conduct multiple tasks with rapidly reconfigurable, attritable, modular payload capabilities to execute reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition missions.
Additionally, the DR will inform a variety of learning objectives to further refine future requirements.
“Transforming in contact is the way our Army can adapt its formations and get new technology in the hands of Soldiers to experiment, innovate, learn, and change at the pace required,” Gen. Randy George, Army Chief of Staff said. “The Company Level Small UAS Directed Requirement effort is a great example of how we are achieving this.”
“This program is another example of the Army’s ability to rapidly move from an idea to a requirement, to a competition, to testing, to contract awards for production. This shows the acquisition system can move at the pace needed to support the Army, especially in rapidly emerging technology areas like small uncrewed aircraft systems,” stated Douglas Bush, the Army’s Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.
“The Directed Requirement for a Company Level Small UAS capability is a priority requirement based on observations from the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza,” said Gen. James Rainey, Commanding General U.S. Army Futures Command. “This requirement describes the importance of considering the UAS as a system, not just an air vehicle, and also highlights the importance of adaptability.”
The Army received additional funding from the Defense Innovation Unit to accelerate the Company Level sUAS program. Both systems have been vetted for 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compliance requirements and are on the Defense Innovation Unit Blue list for commercial UAS technology approved for use by the Department of Defense.
“By selecting approved platforms that have been on DIU’s Blue UAS List, this effort demonstrates the value of DIU’s approach to engaging with the commercial market and providing the DoD ready-to-scale solutions at speed,” said DIU Director, Doug Beck.
“This is an example of effective partnership with DIU that achieves DIU’s goal of rapidly bringing commercial technology into DOD programs to meet high priority service requirements,” continued Assistant Secretary Bush.
“Through tremendous teamwork with Army Futures Command, and the Maneuver and Aviation Centers of Excellence, the Army successfully conducted thorough proposal evaluations, executed flight demonstrations, and achieved the selection decision within five months of the Sources Sought Notification release,” said Brig. Gen. David Phillips, Program Executive Officer, Aviation.
