Background for Army Manufacturing Rodeo:
Contemporary peer and near-peer conflicts have fundamentally reshaped modern multi-dominant warfare. Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (sUAS), autonomous systems, and loitering strike munitions are being consumed at consumption rates and volume comparable to conventional tube artillery. Prevailing operational environments necessitate deep operational magazines, high-velocity resupply cycles, and continuous tactical adaptation at the tactical edge.
However, traditional defense acquisition and defense industrial manufacturing architecture remain optimized for boutique, low-rate production of highly specialized, high-cost platforms. These legacy paradigms are characterized by:
- Rigid, proprietary tooling with limited multi-vendor cross-compatibility;
- Fragile, multi-tiered subcomponent supply chains with hidden foreign adversary dependencies;
- Single-point supplier vulnerabilities and prohibitive unit procurement costs; and
- Inflexible production lines incapable of dynamically scaling to wartime surge capacity during national mobilization.
To achieve strategic overmatch in prolonged combat operations, the Department of the Army requires a paradigm shift toward "Affordable Mass" the deliberate capability to procure, field, and sustain expendable, lethal autonomous munitions at an industrial scale and velocity that overwhelms adversary defenses and replenishes combat losses faster than attrition occurs.
In response to rapid developments in uncrewed aerial combat, the Army launched foundational initiatives including Project Jailbreak and the Drone Dominance Program (DDP) to rapidly evaluate, iterate, and integrate commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and modified commercial drone technology into tactical formations.
While these early initiatives demonstrated the decisive tactical utility of commercial FPV (First-Person View) systems and accelerated soldier touchpoints, they simultaneously illuminated critical industrial vulnerabilities: commercial vendors often struggle with raw manufacturing surge capacity, supply chain assurance, and compliance with rigorous military safety and lethality standards.
To bridge this divide, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASA(ALT)), in close coordination with Army Materiel Command (AMC) and Army Contracting Command Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA), is launching the sUAS portion of Supply-Chain stress testing as the operational baseline for the Army's inaugural Manufacturing Rodeo.
Rather than subsidizing the buildout of bespoke, isolated commercial factories that remain vulnerable to peacetime contraction and component scarcity, the goal is to operationalize a novel, cooperative hybrid manufacturing framework. This model pairs the massive capital infrastructure, machining capacity, and energetic handling capabilities of the Army's Organic Industrial Base (OIB) with the design agility, software innovation, and rapid iteration speed of the commercial Defense Industrial Base (DIB).
sUAS Manufacturing
This Area of Interest solicits commercial solutions specifically focused on standardizing and mass-producing an attainable Group 1 FPV One-Way Attack (OWA) and Loitering Strike commodity line. Unit Cost Restriction: The cost of the Group 1 FPV One-Way Attack (OWA) platform is strictly restricted to a maximum of $3,000 per unit. To validate compliance with this unit cost cap and ensure supply chain integrity, submitters must include a complete Bill of Materials (BOM) using Attachment C (DCMA BOM Template) detailing all subcomponents, wafer fabrication, and manufacturing origins.
Participating systems must meet rigorous operational and interoperability thresholds, including:
Terminal Standoff & Precision Strike: Capability to locate, track, and kinetically engage moving and stationary target sets (personnel in defilade, armored fighting vehicles, command posts) across tactical distances ranging from close-combat environments out to extended standoff depths.
Electromagnetic Warfare & GNSS-Denied Resilience: Proven flight capability in severe electronic warfare (EW) environments, incorporating frequency-agile, multi-band command and control (C2) links, zero-RF-signature fiber-optic tethered options, and alternate navigation modalities such as visual odometry.
Control Ratio Architecture (1:20): Operational architecture capable of supporting a 1:20 ratio where twenty
(20) expendable air vehicles are controlled, bound, and selectively launched via a single durable Ground Control Station (GCS) with minimal operator overhead.
Open Architecture & Modularity: Strict adoption of the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), utilizing standard defense protocols including MAVLink-M, Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) Cursor-on-Target (CoT) messaging, and standardized payload attachment geometries (APEX or small Universal Payload Interface (sUPI)).
Munitions and Lethality Integration: Munition interfaces must accommodate GFE training weights, inert training payloads, live GFE lethality kits, DoW-compliant Electronic Safe and Arm Devices (ESADs), and commercial warheads.
Supply Chain Compliance: Drones and ground control equipment must conform to the Drone Dominance Supply Chain Framework which is more restrictive than the NDAA and will be verified by the Government. This framework is published at DroneDominance.mil and includes minimum required standards for Gauntlet III.
Proving Ground, Stress-Testing, and Scaled Execution
This is not a theoretical study; it is an execution-oriented prototype and industrial stress drill designed to vet both platform performance and domestic supply chain robustness under compressed timelines:
Delivery & Independent Teardown: Selected performers will ingest depot-manufactured battery packs (6S2P/6S4P), Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motors (2807/3115), and frame kits (7 /10 ) via Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) into their facilities to produce a competitive batch of 400 flight-ready OWA aircraft and 20 durable GCS units by 1 Mar 2027. Ten percent of the aircraft and GCS will be delivered early (15 Feb 2027) for testing and operator training. Rigorous physical plant audits and Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) teardown inspections will verify 100% Continental United States (CONUS) assembly and enforce complete exclusion of covered foreign-adversary hardware, silicon, and firmware. The GFE will also include MK118 lethality kits as a part of the effort.
Operational Benchmarking (Gauntlet III): Systems will compete in a dedicated OIB/DIB hybrid category at the Army's Drone Dominance Gauntlet III event (scheduled for March 2027), operated directly by active-duty warfighters against complex obstacle courses, live target arrays, and heavy broad-spectrum electronic jamming. Details on Drone Dominance Gauntlet III are available at the following link: https://www.dronedominance.mil/assets/S2MARTS%20Drone%20Dominance%20Phase%203%20-%20Rev3.pdf.
Scaled Co-Production & Surge Drills (Options): Successful performers will unlock priced contractual options for scaled production (up to 10,000 aircraft). In this follow-on phase, assembly will transition directly into shared co-production lines inside OIB depot facilities (e.g., RIA and TYAD) utilizing government Level 2
Technical Data Packages (TDP). The integrated production pipeline will undergo high-intensity industrial stress tests including simulated feeder disruptions, raw material blockades, and multi-shift surge transitions to definitively validate the United States' capacity to mass-produce lethal, affordable autonomous systems during sustained national security emergencies.
Supply Chain Analysis & Mitigation Plan: Submitters are required to provide a comprehensive analysis of the potential supply chain constraints associated with their proposed solution, along with a detailed, actionable plan to handle and mitigate these constraints to ensure uninterrupted manufacturing and delivery.
Virtual Industry Day Event Description:
- Event: sUAS Manufacturing Rodeo Virtual Industry Day
- Date & Time: November 16, 2026, from 09:00 AM to 10:30 AM CST
- Platform: Microsoft Teams (Virtual Session)
- Link to Meeting: https://dod.teams.microsoft.us/meet/993950479053?p=bJZ8g2ZKtvHlFxPhvO
Follow the procedures in the attached Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) PDF.
