As part of the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Program, Xtend will compete to supply low-cost expendable attack drones amid a major U.S. push to scale unmanned warfare.
Israeli company Xtend, a developer of unmanned systems for military and commercial use, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense as one of 25 companies eligible to bid on a tender to supply the U.S. military with low-cost “one-way” attack drones, a program estimated to be worth a total of $1.1 billion.
As part of the first phase of the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Program (DDP)—an acquisition-reform initiative aimed at rapidly fielding low-cost, expendable unmanned attack drones at scale—selected companies have been invited to present their systems at an evaluation and demonstration event scheduled to take place from mid-February to early March at Fort Moore, Georgia.
During the evaluation, military operators will fly and assess the competing drones. Of the 25 companies participating, 12 will be selected and required to deliver combat-ready drone prototypes to the U.S. military within five months. This phase of the program is estimated to be worth $150 million.
