Pentagon Selects Five Companies for Drone Lethality Challenge

The Department of Defense has named five companies as winners of a Lethality Prize Challenge under its Drone Dominance initiative. The selections target payloads for small drones weighing 20 pounds or less. The companies are Bravo Ordnance, Kela Defense, Kraken Kinetics, Mountain Horse, and Northrop Grumman.

Officials announced the winners on the competition website after issuing the challenge in early April.

The challenge sought scalable and cost-effective lethal payloads for Group 1 drones. Officials stated that affordability and manufacturability are critical because the lethal payload system represents a significant portion of total system cost. Two winning companies said the selection could speed contract and certification processes.

Northrop Grumman stated that the win positions it as a preferred provider to identify and scale advanced payloads.

Grumman said it will deliver its Common UAS Payload, described as an off-the-shelf fuze and effects module. The company added that the selection secures a role as a preferred provider for the initiative. Landtroop stated that winning the challenge allows the product to move through the safety review process in eight weeks instead of months or years.

Landtroop also said the selection provides a pathway to thousands or tens of thousands of unit orders and has changed discussions with investors, suppliers, and other customers.