Army picks Red Cat’s small quadcopter for 2nd Short-Range Reconnaissance tranche

WASHINGTON — The US Army announced it has picked systems made by Red Cat subsidiary Teal Drones for the service’s Short-Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program of record.

After the company preempted the service announcement on Tuesday, the Army confirmed today that it had selected Red Cat’s quadcopter for SRR but noted that “exact funding, quantities, and other details” will be hammered out throughout the rest of the year as the duo work though the contract details.

“The selection was made based on a combination of criteria that included soldier feedback, performance, and reliability during the SRR tranche 2 prototyping effort,” an Army spokesman said in a brief statement.

The Army spokesman did not disclose if Red Cat’s small Teal drone would be the only drone selected for this second tranche but noted that the program office is focused on fostering competition among companies and will be continually assessing new technologies for future tranches.

“The long-awaited production selection marks a new era for our company and the future of American drones,” George Matus, Red Cat’s chief technology officer, said in an announcement on Wednesday.

“Our top priority now is to start ramping production of the next generation system, recently announced as the Black Widow and WEB, and give warfighters the tools they need to be successful on the modern battlefield,” he later added.

Skydio’s RQ-28A quadcopter was picked as the first tranche of the SRR program and was first delivered to soldiers in 2022, one of which noted at the time that the man-portable drones were so new that the service didn’t have tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) for using them in operations.

The service is moving out on plans to acquire and field a host of new aerial drones to provide soldiers at every echelon with a system. That plan includes:

• The Soldier Borne Sensor with Teledyne Flir’s Black Hornet 4 to squads;

•  The SRR assets to platoons level;
• A medium-range reconnaissance drone like Ghost X from Anduril Industries and the C-100 from Performance Drone Works for company formations;
• A Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System (FTUAS) aligned with brigades; and
• The conceptual long-range reconnaissance drone as a follow on or replacement for General Atomic’s MQ-1C Gray Eagle for battalions.

Correction: This story was updated on 11/25/2024 at 11:30 am. The Army is using the Black Hornet 4 for its SBS initiative.