Military Supply Drone Required

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The US Marine Corps is interested in a larger and more powerful autonomous drone delivery system than currently available. The system should be capable of carrying as much as 500 pounds to Marines at least 10 km away.

According to a request for information, the drone delivery vehicle to weigh no more than 1,320 pounds, fit in a small vehicle and operate day/night in a variety of environmental conditions. It should take no more than 30 minutes to set up and launch. And it must be operationally ready as early as next year. Operators should be able to retrieve the drone either autonomously or manually from near where it was launched.

According to marinecorpstimes.com, some portions of the RFI sounded such as work being done by the Navy-Marine Corps program Next Generation Logistics, or NexLog. The program looks for logistics innovations.  

The automated drone project, called “Hive Final Mile,” uses algorithms to allow for a hive base of drones to carry items such as MREs, water bottles and small medical equipment on demand to Marines in the field, who have the ability to order items with the push of a button.

The system can also be set to continuously deliver items, for example creating a pile of MREs at a remote base over an hour or so with multiple drones streaming to the site.

However, Jamie Cosgrove, spokeswoman for the Naval Air Systems Command, said that the current RFI is for existing commercial options to deliver items in the 25- to 500-pound range and is not part of the NexLog program.