US Marine Corps adopts Drone Round's 5.56mm anti-drone ammunition

Published Aug 3, 02:57 PM UTC

The Marine Corps has selected Drone Round's 5.56 L Variant ammunition as the only kinetic munition meeting its minimum standards for immediate counter-drone defense. Unlike shotguns traditionally used for aerial targets, this round fires five projectiles from a single trigger pull while remaining compatible with standard-issue M27 and M4A1 rifles. The company, founded by Connor Schnepf and Justin Lawrence, partnered with Freedom Munitions to scale production to millions of rounds per month. The Marine Corps has already purchased 400,000 rounds and plans to buy another 1 million in the next fiscal year. The round addresses the military's need for an inexpensive, practical solution against small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that can destroy infrastructure and expensive equipment.