The US Army has issued a request through an official government contracting resource, expressing interest in small and comparatively inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
According to the request, The Program Executive Office (PEO) Aviation, Project Manager (PM), Uncrewed Aircraft Systems, is seeking information on commercially available, production-ready, attritable, cost-effective, and affordable small UAVs intended for use at the maneuver small unit level.
The desired UAV system should feature a rapidly reconfigurable, modular payload capability to facilitate mission changes across primary reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition tasks, with additional capabilities for target identification, communications relay, and kinetic missions.
The system configuration outlined in the request includes a minimum of two air vehicles with modular mission payload capability, a Ground Control Station, and ancillary equipment capable of operations in various weather conditions.
It appears that the US Army has carefully examined the experiences gained from the Ukraine-Russia war, during which small commercial drones were widely utilized for reconnaissance and direct strikes.
