Drone that flew three days nonstop joins U.S. Army program of record

A fully electric drone that once stayed in the air for more than three days straight has been picked for a U.S. Army program of record, its maker, Kraus Hamdani Aerospace, said this week.

The California company said in a statement that its K1000ULE was “selected as part of a major U.S. Army Program of Record.” A program of record is a long-term, budgeted Army acquisition program, which moves a system beyond trials and one-off purchases.

Under the award, Kraus Hamdani will deliver K1000ULE aircraft for Army reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition, the company said.

“We engineered the K1000ULE around a fundamental operational need, keeping critical capabilities airborne for longer while reducing the burden on the forces using them,” said Stefan Kraus, the company’s chief technology officer and co-founder.

The K1000ULE is a Group 2 drone, a class for aircraft weighing 21 to 55 pounds (about 10 to 25 kg). It takes off and lands vertically, so it needs no runway, and its wings carry solar panels that recharge its batteries in flight. In 2023, one flew for more than 75 hours without landing, a record for its weight class, according to the company.

U.S. Army units have been flying it for years. The 1st Multi-Domain Task Force used the drone for surveillance, communications relay and electronic warfare during the Static Focus 3 exercise in Washington state in March 2025, and again in the Philippines that May during Exercise Salaknib 25.

Kraus Hamdani said the Army award builds on an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract from U.S. Air Forces Central earlier this year, worth up to $270 million. The drone is also on the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue UAS lists of drones cleared for U.S. military use, and the Army can buy it directly through its online acquisition marketplace.

The company said years of exercises and deployments, along with feedback from the troops who fly the drone, shaped the current design.

“Our purpose to save lives and connect the world has always guided what we build and why,” said Fatema Hamdani, the company’s chief executive and co-founder. She said the announcement, coming right after Veterans Day, “carries special meaning for our team,” many of whom are veterans.