The picture shows XTEND’s “Striker” indoor suicide drone. (Picture taken from XTEND)
[Reporter Wu Zheyu/Taipei Report] The results of the second phase of the "Challenge" of the U.S. "Drone Advantage Project" are out. The top three manufacturers, Neros Technologies, Orqa US and XTEND AI Robotics, have received a total of 27,000 drone orders. Among them, the U.S. Department of War purchased 6,000 "Striker" drones from XTEND. The aircraft can use artificial intelligence to assist operators in performing attack missions inside buildings, narrow corridors and urban street combat in environments where Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals are interfered with.
The military news website "Army Recognition" reported that XTEND recently participated in the second phase of the "Challenge" and won third place in the close combat event, second only to Neros Technologies and Orqa US. After completing the test of 120 drones, it obtained a mass production order for 6,000 drones.
This time, the three manufacturers received a total of 27,000 drone orders, with a total amount of US$178.5 million. Among them, Neros received an order of 14,000 aircraft worth US$100 million, Orqa received an order of 7,000 aircraft worth US$38 million, and XTEND received an order of 6,000 aircraft worth US$40.5 million.
The report pointed out that the "Strike" is mainly designed for indoor close combat. Unlike deep strike drones with an attack range of up to 20 kilometers, it focuses on attacking enemy positions through AI-assisted navigation in environments where buildings, corridors and satellite signals are blocked. At present, the US military has not announced the weight, speed, range, endurance time and warhead weight of this purchased version.
This procurement is part of the Pentagon's US$1.1 billion "Drone Advantage Plan", which aims to obtain more than 200,000 small drones with lethal capabilities by 2027 through four phases of competitive procurement, and gradually reduce the average procurement cost from US$5,000 to US$3,000.
In addition, U.S. Secretary of War Hegseth also proposed an additional appropriation requirement of US$50 billion on the 14th, as well as a related budget requirement of US$53.6 billion for the 2027 fiscal year, covering areas such as unmanned systems, anti-drone, high-threat environment logistics and collaborative autonomous technology.
The US military launched the first phase of the challenge in February this year, with a total of 25 manufacturers participating. In the end, Skycutter's drone stood out and 11 manufacturers received orders. The second phase expanded to 49 manufacturers and 79 types of drones, and added night operations and narrow space attack tests.
The report said that Ukraine estimates that it can produce 6 million to 7 million FPV attack drones in 2026, with an average of about 500,000 to 580,000 per month. In comparison, the US military's purchase target of 200,000 aircraft is only equivalent to approximately 10 to 12 days of Ukrainian production.
At the same time, the United States also faces supply chain challenges. The Pentagon adjusted its procurement specifications in July this year, requiring the second phase of testing to exclude Chinese-made motors and batteries. It plans to further restrict the source of GPS modules in February 2027 and establish a complete domestic supply chain traceability mechanism in August.
