WASHINGTON- Army Acquisition Managers and Joint Interagency Working Group 401 Officials announced today that the service has awarded several contracts worth up to $7 billion for counter-drone capabilities.
The contracts, which the Army began awarding Monday, are part of an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) vehicle, executives said. THE contracts will support the Pentagon’s drone and counter-drone market, as well as his Domestic Shield Program – a project to protect U.S. military installations and critical infrastructure from threats posed by small drones.
It will also support “otits counter-UAS (unmanned aerial system) requirements” across the federal government, Brent Ingraham, ASA assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ALT), told reporters today ahead of the announcement.
“These vehicles that we awarded yesterday cover a range of counter-UAS capabilities – from sensors to effectors to C2 (command and control) systems. (They) really give us options as new requirements emerge. The Army wants competition. The JIATF-401 team wants competition. We want to deliver better technology every day, and we don’t want to be locked into a single vendor as this threat evolves,” Ingraham said. “We have laid the groundwork for contracting before the next requirement arises. »
The Army recognized the following companies as part of the IDIQ:
- $500 million basis for Allen Control Systems
- $500 million foundation for digital force technologies
- A base of 500 million dollars for DroneShield
- A base of 250 million dollars for Echodyne Corp
- A base of 500 million dollars for Napatree Technology
- $250 million base for PVP advanced EO systems
- $500 million basis for RADA Technologies, LLC
- $150 million for SmartShooter Inc
- Base of $500 million for the SRC
- A base of 500 million dollars for L3Harris WESCAM
The Army has not specified what type of capabilities each company will provide. However, Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, commanding general of JIATF-401, told reporters the service hopes to build a “layered defense.” capable of detecting, tracking, identifying, mitigating and capturing drones.
Rather than relying on a single “system of systems,” the Army purchases multiple interoperable systems to perform these functions, Ross said.
“There’s no silver bullet. I think in the past people thought we could just pick a really good counter-UAS capability and give one to everyone,” Ross said. “What we found is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.”
Ingraham and Ross said the Army would use multiple acquisition channels to facilitate purchases — sucThese include commercial solution openings, a command and control joint venture licensing agreement, existing service contracts, and the Pentagon drone and counter-drone markets.
Through the marketplace, soldiers, other federal agencies and allied nations can purchase various counter-drone capabilities, Ingraham said. He said he anticipates the counter-drone market will be as successful as the military’s.a market that, to date, has achieved over $800 million in sales.
Additionally, Ross said the market would help increase the number of drones available for purchase, as demand for such systems “exceeds the supply currently available.”
“What we’re trying to do through the marketplace is connect these producers with customers so they can see the true demand across the United States, but also with our partners and allies,” Ross said. “A large IDIQ contract will allow companies to raise additional capital to build their inventories, as they reasonably expect us to continue working with them.”
Neither Ingraham nor Ross responded to questions about when the systems are expected to be delivered or to whom.
Separately, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and JIATF-401 signed a memorandum of understanding. today youo improve information sharing on drone threats. According to an NNSA announcement, the memorandum will share data from its counter-drone test events with the task force, and in turn JIATF-401 will do the same.
“Together, we will reduce duplicate testing, accelerate the fielding of effective C-UAS capabilities, and strengthen the protection of critical national security installations,” announces the NNSA.I didn’t say. “Increased collaboration will help participating organizations better utilize taxpayer funding while accelerating the evaluation and implementation of advanced C-UAS technologies.”
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