US Air Force awards Tandem Defense up to $90 mln for small aerial denial drones

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Tandem Defense, a Georgia-based drone manufacturer, a contract worth up to $90 million to produce small, expendable unmanned aircraft systems designed to deny enemy forces the ability to operate in contested airspace.

Contract Details

• Awardee: Tandem Defense, headquartered in Richmond Hill, Georgia
• Contract Value: Up to $90 million (indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity structure)
• Duration: Through July 2028
• Managed by: Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
• Competition: 10 offers received
• Initial Obligation: $98,000 in fiscal 2026 procurement funds

The contract covers Group 1 aerial denial unmanned aircraft systems, ancillary support equipment, operator training, and field service representative support.

What Are Group 1 Aerial Denial Systems?

Group 1 is the smallest category in the U.S. military’s five-tier drone classification system, covering unmanned aircraft that:

• Weigh less than 20 pounds (9 kilograms)
• Fly below 1,200 feet (366 meters)
• Travel at speeds under 100 knots (115 mph)

This category includes small reconnaissance quadcopters and compact first-person-view (FPV) attack drones.

Aerial denial refers to systems built to stop enemy aircraft from operating freely in contested airspace, as opposed to gathering intelligence or striking ground targets. This increasingly means intercepting other small drones before they reach protected bases, formations, or equipment.

Tandem Defense’s Capabilities

Tandem Defense has built its business around small, tactical drone systems. The company markets itself as an American manufacturer of modular FPV drone systems, claiming:

• More than 25,000 systems already deployed across all U.S. military branches and over 11 allied nations
• Development of the first American-made fiber-optic FPV drone, created with L3Harris, which uses a physical cable stretching over 80 kilometers (50 miles) instead of a radio link—making it immune to electronic jamming
• A dedicated counter-drone interceptor designed to defeat one-way attack drones such as Iran’s Shahed-136 and Russia’s Geran-2 variant, capable of kinetic intercepts (direct physical collision) at speeds up to 340 km/h (211 mph), at a cost significantly below traditional missile-based air defense systems

Broader Pentagon Context

This contract aligns with a growing urgency across the Pentagon to counter cheap, mass-produced drones:

• On July 1, the U.S. Army awarded AeroVironment a separate $500 million contract to acquire commercial counter-drone technology capable of defeating Group 1, 2, and 3 threats over three years
• This reflects a broader institutional shift where counter-drone defense is becoming a standard protection requirement for maneuver forces, logistics units, artillery batteries, aviation units, and fixed installations
• The shift traces back to the Department of War’s Drone Dominance initiative, a Pentagon-wide effort to expand America’s domestic drone manufacturing base, arm combat units with low-cost attack drones, and coordinate rapid counter-drone fielding across all U.S. military services via Joint Interagency Task Force 401