Today, just nine of the Army’s 540 acquisition programs use the streamlined Software Pathway, but senior officials told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview they aim to "exponentially" increase that number by the end of next year.
If the Army heeds industry's emphasis on protecting intellectual property than a dependence on proprietary technology will hamstring FVL’s ability to address evolving threats.
Shadow replacements shine at U.S. Army’s rainy drone ‘rodeo’
By Dan Parsons | March 3, 2021
Estimated reading time 9 minutes, 8 seconds.
One after the other, four potential replacements for the Army’s RQ-7 Shadow drone wowed soldiers and their commanders during a flight demonstration in a chilly Georgia downpour that would have grounded the legacy drone.
“Hello from cold, wet, and dreary Fort Benning,” Brig. Gen. Walter Rugen, director of Future Vertical Lift at Army Futures Command, told reporters during a conference call on March 2. “Shadow could never fly in this type of moisture, couldn’t even come close.”
A U.S. Army soldier on Feb. 25 monitors the vertical flight of a Martin V-Bat drone, one of four competing to replace the RQ-7 Shadow tactical UAS. U.S. Army Photo by Mr. Luke J. Allen