Amid shakeup, Army plans to replace Gray Eagle and Shadow drones

WASHINGTON — Soldiers inside divisions and brigades will not be left without replacements for Gray Eagle and RQ-7B Shadow drones, according to a US Army leader who says new plans to replace both are in the works. 

Since the service unveiled its Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) in May, questions have swirled about the path ahead for both since it halted future buys of General Atomics’ Gray Eagle drone and cancelled the Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System (FTUAS) competition designed to replace the now shelved Shadow fleet. Col. Nick Ryan, director of the Army Capability Manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, told reporters today that plans are shaping up to acquire new drones for both echelons.

The evolving plan, according to Ryan, is to keep the newer Gray Eagles, which are medium-altitude, long endurance aircraft made by General Atomics, in inventory and upgrade them, while phasing out the older variants around the fiscal 2028 timeframe. To make sure division commanders still have reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting, and acquisition drones, the Army wants to buy a new group 4 or 5 platform that doesn’t necessarily need a runway.

After releasing a request for information in June 2024, Ryan now expects senior leaders to make a final requirements decision in the next two to three months so that the service can begin fielding the short takeoff and landing (STOL)/ vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft with a “target date” of FY28.

“What actually happens, what actually is approved, what actually is funded could play out differently,” Ryan said.

While Ryan did not discuss details of a forthcoming competition, in September 2024 another Army official told Breaking Defense that there were more than 10 responses to that RFI, and General Atomics spokesman C. Mark Brinkley has previously said his company at least is all in for a potential competition.

“We were excited to see the RFI, and happy to respond with details and plans for our Gray Eagle 25M and Gray Eagle STOL aircraft,” Brinkley wrote in a statement to Breaking Defense last year. “General Atomics envisions Gray Eagle 25M and Gray Eagle STOL as a true 1-2 punch for Army aviation moving into the future.”

Out Of The Shadows

As Army officials pave the path ahead for a new division-level drone, Ryan said the brigades are not being left out. 

“ATI obviously stopped the Future Tactical UAS program, and then we’ve already been without a Shadow for a couple years now. So, brigades don’t have a capability at this time,” Ryan said. “[But], the requirement for a brigade to have that type of capability for an unmanned aircraft system is still valid and still exists.” 

Soldiers used the more tactical Shadow, a group 3 UAS that’s smaller than a Gray Eagle, for a couple of decades for everything from reconnaissance and surveillance to targeting.

While the FTUAS program had encountered delays over the years, drone-makers Griffon and Textron were vying for the contract when the service dropped the axe on the competition. Despite the cancellation there was an “appetite” to find the right solution at a quicker clip, according to Ryan. 

So, service leaders decided to lean on an already existing brigade UAS directed requirement designed to rapidly field a commercial-off-the-shelf solution instead of the FTUAS program of record.

“We reopened the competition and allowed the two vendors from FTUAS — which was Griffin and Textron —  [and] allowed them to also enter that competition and compete against the other vendors,” Ryan explained.

Before the service announces the winner or winners, senior Army leaders need to sign off on the plan and ensure funding is in place. That decision could come quickly, and the service could begin buying the new drones in fiscal 2026, while it looks for future platforms to fill the brigade’s needs. 

“Most likely group 3 UAS will be kind of a tranche one capability. But then we already rapidly planning to iterate,” he added.  “What does tranche two look like? What does tranche three, … tranche four look like?”