There have been some big events in US small drone manufacturing news, so I figured I’d do a quick write-up of what I’ve seen.
Red Cat/ Teal Drones wins SRR Contract
On November 19, 2024, Red Cat Holdings announced:
“Red Cat’s next-generation TEAL system will be the Army’s program of record SRR (short range records sUAS, concluding the rigorous, multi-tranche competitive process.”
Red Cat Holdings
In a video, George Matus, founder Teal Drones, CTO Red Cat Holdings explained,
“2018 was when the US Army announced the SRR program of record. Its intent to field an American alternative to DJI. … We have a factory that can scale at really high volume. … This is the first time I can confidently say America has caught up with China and is now exceeding their capabilities.“
Skydio Sanctioned by China
The SRR contract was awarded a few weeks after Skydio informed its customers its battery supply would reduced due to Chinese sanctions against the company for selling drones to Taiwan.
BreakingDefense.com reported David Michelson, director of the autonomy portfolio at the DIU, described the sanctions as a signal. He said,
“As a former American soldier, I don’t want Chinese things in the hands of my fellow soldiers. Unacceptable … I think this is just a signal from the PRC [People’s Republic of China] that we are very tightly coupled with certain parts of the supply chain still.”
BreakingDefense also notes,
“avoiding Chinese supply lines — specifically related to batteries — could become mandatory if companies want to do business with the US Defense Department. Section 154 of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, for instance, states that beginning on Oct. 1, 2027, no funds appropriated or made available for the DoD can be spent to procure a battery produced by the listed Chinese-owned and -operated companies.”
Domestic Battery Production
“Some companies like Lyten, a Silicon Valley battery startup, are already taking steps to avoid future run-ins with Section 154. Lyten announced on Wednesday that it acquired manufacturing assets from Northvolt, a Swedish battery manufacturer. This move will allow Lyten to manufacture up to 175 megawatt-per-hour (one million watts of power for one hour) of Lithium-Sulfur batteries “to meet growing demand from defense, drone, and energy storage applications,” according to a company statement provided to Breaking Defense.”
BreakingDefense.com
At this time, Lyten appears to be the only domestic battery producer positioned to achieve true independence from Chinese supply chains
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