US Marines Want 10,000 FPV Drones at $4K a Pop
The U.S. Marine Corps is looking for companies that can provide 10,000 first-person view drones by Jan. 1, 2027, according to a recent Request for Information (RFI) on a government procurement website.
While just a minute fraction of the number of FPV drones being used by both sides of the war in Ukraine monthly, the RFI is the latest move by the Marines to put these swift and maneuverable weapons into the hands of its troops. It was issued as the Pentagon seeks to dramatically increase drone supplies across the services.
The RFI is one step toward meeting that goal. It calls for FPV drones costing less than $4,000 per unit for the aircraft, with the understanding that ground-control stations, communications equipment, goggles, batteries and charging stations for swarming will add to the price tag.
These can be controlled by radio frequencies as well as fibre optic cables
The Marines are also seeking designs that can be easily converted from non-kinetic to multiple different kinetic payloads by troops on the front lines. In addition, the RFI calls for drones giving Marines the ability to “modify, within reason, the system with a variety of third-party payloads, armaments, and munitions without vendor involvement.” The Corps also wants the ability to repair these drones by itself, without vendor involvement, a critical need in any swiftly evolving fight.
There are no requirements listed for speed, range, altitude, or payload weights; however, the RFI asks that interested companies provide those specifications. Regardless, the Corps is looking to move out quickly — at least in terms of notoriously sluggish U.S. military procurement norms — on this effort. The RFI calls for the delivery of an initial tranche of these weapons by Jan. 1, 2027, “with the ability to quickly ramp production and deliver larger quantities up to 5,000 air vehicles within 6 months and 10,000 units within 12 months.”
A Neros Archer first-person view (FPV) drone. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joshua Barker) Cpl. Joshua Barker
In April 2024, the Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM) awarded three companies – Teledyne FLIR Defense, AeroVironment and Anduril Industries – an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract worth up to $249 million under its Organic Precision Fires-Light (OPF-L) program. The most recent order came earlier this month, when the Corps agreed to purchase 600 Rogue-1 loitering munitions from Teledyne FLIR Defense for $42.5 million, or about $71,000 a piece. That follows an initial $12 million order for 127 Rogue-1s, which had a price tag of about $90,000 per unit.
The procurement of 10,000 FPV drones pales in comparison to what is seen in Ukraine, a nation in an existential fight. Kyiv, for instance, plans to produce 4.5 million FPV drones by the end of this year. Russia, for its part, plans to produce 2.5 million of these weapons. Still, Ukraine is a unique, well-established conflict with largely static lines, and is not what the U.S. would likely face in the Pacific, for instance, where FPV drones won’t be needed in such massive quantities. Still, FPV drones will be a staple of land warfare going forward.
Top Photo: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joaquin Dela Torre
Source: The War Zone
