The Air Drive desires trade to make an an identical copy of the Shahed-136 drone, utilized by Russia in relentless assaults on Ukraine, to develop and take a look at defenses in opposition to the Iranian-designed system.
The service desires to purchase 16 of those Shahed look-alikes, with an choice to purchase 20 extra later, because it pursues the “subsequent era” of counter-drone packages, based on a request for info posted final week.
“To help weapons improvement and integration of those weapon methods, the [U.S. government] requires that the Class 3 unmanned aerial goal system be a 1:1 copy (kind, match and performance) of a reverse engineered Shahed-136 suicide drone,” the solicitation stated.
The drone should be an “actual reproduction” of the Iranian chook with the identical profile, form, payload capability—about 70 to 100 kilos—and should be capable to fly no less than 50 miles, based on the solicitation. That’s far lower than the Shahed’s vary of over a thousand miles, however ample for testing functions.
Designed in Iran, modified and mass-produced underneath license by Russia, the Shahed-136 has emerged as a favourite weapon of the invading forces inside Ukraine. Their price ticket is estimated at $30,000 to $40,000 apiece, a fraction of the price of the U.S. and European missiles used to take them down. That imbalance, plus depleted stockpiles of interceptors, has Ukraine and its supporters trying to find cheaper defenses.
A number of U.S. corporations have already began designing Shahed-esque choices for the Pentagon. Throughout a drone demo occasion on the Pentagon final month, SpektreWorks, an Arizona-based drone producer, confirmed off its new Low-Price Uncrewed Fight Assault System, dubbed LUCAS, that may emulate a Shahed. One other agency, Alabama-based Griffon Aerospace, just lately unveiled the MQM-172 Arrowhead, marketed as each an assault and goal drone.
Whereas the Air Drive offered some tips within the solicitation, the federal government stated it gained’t present a technical knowledge bundle for this requirement, so corporations should be capable to design and develop their very own copy.
The solicitation notes that the drone shall be despatched to the service’s armament directorate, which develops weapons at Eglin Air Drive Base in Florida.
