A SOCOM spokesperson told Breaking Defense, “Our next step is to purchase limited quantities of the Rogue 1 for further test and evaluation in support of a fielding decision and follow-on Low-Rate Initial Production in late calendar year 2025.”
According to a SOCOM official, the Army included feedback from the command that led to design changes like hardware for a refueling probe and features that will enable special operators to make unique modifications.
A look at some of what this year's SOF Week conference in Tampa had to offer.
These upgrades will play a central role in the way American and allied forces fight, and are destined to keep them at the vanguard for a long time.
“We already expanded production ahead of Replicator, and irrespective of Replicator, because we know where this is going,” AeroVironment CEO Wahid Nawabi told Breaking Defense.
The command carried out steps like hydrostatic and wind tunnel tests, but is now “kind of hitting a pause” on implementing a water landing capability due to budget concerns.
With China the primary source of quadcopters, the U.S. can counter with a superior domestic supply chain.
Special operators had planned for FARA to take the role of the AH-6, but the program’s cancellation “changed our equation,” a SOCOM official said.
“We haven’t seen … the arrival of that many different, I would call ecosystems or capabilities, going that fast together in quite some time,” SOCOM Commander Gen. Bryan Fenton said of new technologies changing the nature of warfare.
Company executives claimed the Pulsar system can use AI tools to quickly identify new threats and devise defenses against them, compressing the timeline for responding to rapidly-evolving electronic warfare.