- Pentagon has selected five companies for its drone lethality initiative
- Drone Dominance program is targeting rapid scaling of low-cost unmanned systems
- Northrop Grumman and Bravo Ordnance pitched payloads for small attack drones
The Pentagon has selected five companies as winners of its Drone Dominance Lethality Prize Challenge, a competition focused on identifying scalable payload systems for small unmanned aircraft systems, Breaking Defense reported Monday.
Which Companies Won the Pentagon’s Drone Payload Challenge?
Bravo Ordnance, Kela Defense, Kraken Kinetics, Mountain Horse and Northrop Grumman were named winners of the challenge, which sought payloads for Group 1 drones weighing 20 pounds or less. The department requested low-cost payload systems capable of supporting large-scale production and deployment. Officials said affordability remains a key consideration as payload systems account for a significant share of overall drone costs.
Which Systems Were Submitted by the Winners?
Northrop plans to provide its standardized Common UAS Payload, an off-the-shelf fuze and effects module designed for small drone platforms. Hardware startup Bravo Ordnance entered HitchHiker, a 2.5-kilogram munition compliant with the Picatinny Common Lethality Integration Kit.
What Is the Drone Dominance Program?
The Drone Dominance Program is a Pentagon initiative aimed at rapidly scaling the production and deployment of one-way attack drones for U.S. combat forces. Announced by Secretary of War and two-time Wash100 Award winner Pete Hegseth in December, the effort emphasizes fast acquisition and fielding under a “fight tonight” approach to accelerate battlefield readiness.
The Department of War plans to issue up to $1 billion in fixed-price orders in four phases to procure over 200,000 drones by 2027. In February, the department selected 25 companies for the program’s opening phase, managed by the Defense Innovation Unit, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division and the Test Resource Management Center.
