Drone Dominance Program Phase I - Request for Solutions

Drones are reshaping the character of war. To meet this change, the Department of War (DoW) must provide our ground combat forces with the tools needed to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy in close combat. The DoW must provide one-way attack (OWA) small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) to end users at low cost, at scale and from a supply chain that is resilient.

Historically, traditional requirements and acquisition timelines have not supported the needs of our warfighters, the Services, or Combatant Commands. The Drone Dominance Program (DDP) intends to award $1.1 billion in prototype orders utilizing 10 U.S.C. 4022 over four independent phases in the next two years.

This multi-phase plan is an advanced market commitment: the Department is posting quantities and prices up front and will award fixed price prototype deliveries with vendors whose systems meet the Gauntlet performance and delivery requirements. Each phase begins with a Gauntlet test event, run by the Test Resource Management Center, and ends with delivery of sUAS via an Other Transaction – Prototype delivery award for the winners of the Gauntlet. This program represents a fundamental shift in acquisition strategy.

Rather than purchasing systems based on paper requirements, the DoW intends to buy demonstrated capabilities through live competition. The Gauntlet events are designed to test capabilities. The awards are intended to test production scale and operational use. Each phase will introduce new operational challenges requiring improvements in capabilities.

At each phase, the number of drones purchased will increase, the price per unit will decrease (with the exception of Phase II), and the number of vendors receiving prototype delivery orders will decrease. The Department intends to buy commercial technologies for novel applications supporting defense purposes. Vendors will bear development and manufacturing risk. The Government will pay a fixed price only for units that are delivered and determined acceptable. The Drone Dominance Website, linked below, contains information on how the DDP originated and more on how to respond to this RFS.