Overview
- The Phase I evaluation at Fort Benning runs from Feb. 18 into early March, culminating in roughly $150 million in prototype orders.
- Selected firms then have about five months to deliver the one-way attack drones chosen during the event.
- Competitors must bring at least 11 drones and ten removable 2 kg inert payloads, per the December solicitation.
- The 25-company field spans startups and established contractors, including Teal Drones, Kratos SRE, Vector Defense, and Performance Drone Works.
- The multi-phase plan targets tens of thousands of systems in 2026 and scales toward hundreds of thousands by 2027 under U.S.-only supply-chain rules that exclude Chinese components.