Army fields launched effects to 11 of 12 divisions, with Griffon Aerospace delivering the majority

WASHINGTON — The Army has fielded launched effects to all but one of its headquarters divisions, with Griffon Aerospace supplying the majority of the systems, according to senior Army officials. 

The unmanned systems have been delivered to 11 of its 12 HQ divisions and each multi-domain task force (MDTF), according to Lt. Col. Hunter Gray, product manager for launched effects under Program Acquisition Executive Maneuver Air. He told reporters Thursday that the effort is part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s 2025 Drone Dominance memo, which directed the Army to provide each HQ division and MDTF with launched effects by the end of 2026.

The service plans to start providing the 12th and final division with launched effects next month, Gray said. He did not disclose what divisions have been fielded thus far, and the Army did not respond to queries on the matter by press time.

Launched effects are unmanned aircraft or payloads deployed from crewed aircraft, ground vehicles or maritime platforms to deliver various kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities. Depending on their range and payload, the systems can extend the reach of units and provide effects without putting personnel directly in harm’s way.

To meet its fielding goals, the Army turned to established industry partners with the capacity to deliver “mission-ready platforms” at scale, while leveraging commercial supply chains to keep up with demand, Gray said.

“That fit very well in alignment with the ongoing acquisition reform and the directives that we’ve seen in the robotic and autonomous systems space,” he said. 

Ski Horrocks, the deputy program manager of unmanned aerial systems under PAE Maneuver Air, said Thursday that, in addition to the Army’s recent acquisition reform, industry has been able to provide launched effects at scale thanks to the DoD’s drone marketplace. 

“The real magic behind the marketplace is all the rapid acquisition authorities and the contract vehicles,” he said. Because Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) allow contracts to be awarded much more quickly than traditional FAR-based contracts, he explained that they have helped the Army “move fast” in scaling launched effects and other drone platforms to soldiers. OTAs are the go-to contract vehicle the Army uses to award vendors a spot on the marketplace.

Gray said that some vendors have been able to scale faster than others, with dual-use company Griffon Aerospace standing out because of both the demand for its systems and its ability to incorporate soldier feedback and deliver updated platforms shortly thereafter.

“That is the vendor that we’ve been able to scale the most based off of priority,” Gray said. Griffon is currently able to provide hundreds of systems per month to the Army, he added. 

“From the time that we identified the need to scale to the time that the first tranche of systems was delivered was about three weeks,” Gray said, referring to Griffon’s systems. “Since then, we’ve continued to maintain a frequency of that feedback loop with that tech insertion cycle and [have] ordered more aircraft per cycle so that we can continue to responsibly scale the industrial base to demand.” 

Gray did not disclose the total number of launched effects systems that have been delivered, but said the “majority” have been long-range capabilities provided by Griffon. Neither he nor Griffon President Jordan French would disclose all of the company’s platforms that have been fielded, but both said the Army has received systems from Griffon’s broader family of launched effects, including its Outlaw drone.

“To narrow in on a singular platform is not really how we look at acquiring systems,” Gray said. 

The Army is also procuring a range of payload capabilities for its launched effects, rather than prioritizing one particular mission area. Gray said those include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic warfare and kinetic effects.

“The great thing about the way that these systems are designed and the way that they operate is that we can adjust the payloads based off of the user requirement in near real time,” he said. “The demand ebbs and flows based off of the concept of the operation of the unit that we’re dealing with.” 

The comments come after the Army’s lead for Drone Dominance, Col. Gregory Merkl, told reporters in September that the service has enough systems to outfit each squad with small, one-way attack drones. However, the systems have not yet reached every squad, and the service lacks enough trained personnel to operate them, Merkl added.

As part of Hegseth’s Drone Dominance initiative, he mandated that every Army squad be equipped with small, one-way attack drones by the end of fiscal 2026. Merkl’s September comments suggest the service had not yet met that goal, despite having sufficient systems in its inventory.