WASHINGTON — The US Army’s forward-thinking Futures Command has put out a request to industry for any current tech that could help the service up its game in the Air-Ground Littoral, which it describes as the increasingly drone-filled area between the ground and a “few thousand” feet up.
“The Air-Ground Littoral is characterized by the proliferation of low-cost, small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), and the associated autonomy, payloads, missions, and platforms to maintain situational awareness and freedom of maneuver,” reads a “call for solution” solicitation published Monday. “This emergent domain presents both offensive potential and defensive challenges.”
The solicitation is broad-ranging, calling for tech for use in eight “capability focus areas,” from unmanned mine-clearers to aid movement and manuever, to fires in the form of “drone swarm or sensor-to-shooter systems that aid in target acquisition, fire adjustment, massing of fires, and attack capabilities.”
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However, there are two main conditions: The tech must be ready for experimentation by the 4th Infantry Division (4ID) at Fort Carson in Colorado by next year, and the solutions “should also be open to integration with the Next Generation Command and Control prototype ecosystem” under development for use “over the next 18 months” for use by the 4ID.
“This open call leverages flexible acquisition authorities to enable rapid prototyping, iterative development, and potential pathways to future acquisition,” the solicitation says. “The Army encourages participation from all sectors and business sizes—particularly small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors.”
The wide call comes as the US military is racing to incorporate unmanned tech — as well as tech designed to guard against it — after witnessing the effectiveness of small drones in tactical combat on the battlefields of Ukraine. In July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an order designed to “unleash” the use of small drones, including a directive that each Army squad be outfitted with their own expendable drones.
The solicitation also comes during a key gathering of military and industry tech leaders at Technet Augusta in Georgia, where networks like the in-development NGC2 system are certain to be a key topic of discussion.
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Monday’s solicitation requests responses by Sept. 5.
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Author: Lee Ferran
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