Five companies lead scoring in $1 billion drone program
Five companies posted the top scores in the close-quarters battle category of Gauntlet II, the latest round of testing under the U.S. Department of War’s $1 billion Drone Dominance Program, according to results the program released and companies confirmed this week.
Neros topped that category with a score of 88.1, followed by ORQA US LLC at 82.8, XTEND Reality Inc. at 80.2, Vector at 78.2 and ModalAI Inc. at 74.3, per the program’s published scoring. Gauntlet II tested drone systems in operationally realistic scenarios evaluated by warfighters, split across mission categories including close-quarters battle, confined environments and deep strike.
XTEND said September 16 that it delivered and demonstrated 120 of its STRIKER systems for the evaluation, running on the company’s proprietary XOS operating system, which XTEND says is built for tactical missions in confined, complex and GNSS-denied environments, where GPS signals are jammed or unavailable.
“This is a major win for XTEND,” said Aviv Shapira, Co-Founder and CEO of XTEND. “We delivered, we competed, and we proved what STRIKER is capable of in the hands of U.S. warfighters. This achievement demonstrates the strength of our technology.”
Vector said in a LinkedIn post that its selection came with orders for up to 5,000 systems, part of a combined allocation across confined environments and deep strike mission areas that the program has set at 60,000 units total. Vector said it also received orders for its high-voltage electronic safe and arm device, hardware that lets operators safely arm drones with different munitions, and said it is the only American company to win awards for both unmanned systems and that arming hardware in the Gauntlet II flyoff.
The Drone Dominance Program is jointly managed by the Defense Innovation Unit and the Test Resource Management Center, with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division serving as the contracting authority. The program is meant to build a U.S.-based supply chain for low-cost, one-way attack drones, and Gauntlet II results feed into which companies move forward for prototype contracts.
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Five companies achieved top scores in the close-quarters battle category of the Gauntlet II testing under the U.S. Department of War's Drone Dominance Program. Neros led with a score of 88.1, followed by ORQA US LLC and XTEND Reality Inc. XTEND demonstrated 120 STRIKER systems, while Vector secured orders for up to 5,000 systems. The program aims to develop a U.S.-based supply chain for low-cost attack drones.
- Five companies scored highest in Gauntlet II testing for the Drone Dominance Program.
- Neros achieved the highest score of 88.1 in close-quarters battle.
- XTEND delivered 120 STRIKER systems for evaluation.
- Vector received orders for up to 5,000 systems as part of the program.
- The program aims to establish a U.S.-based supply chain for attack drones.