US Army to continue relationship with drone manufacturer Skydio

The U.S. Army announced that it will continue its relationship with Skydio, the leading U.S. drone manufacturer.

Specifically, the Army will continue with the Skydio X2D SRR system to complete the remaining integration and documentation requirements within the Other Transaction Agreement Prototype Phase. The SRR program, located in Huntsville, Alabama, aims to equip soldiers with a rapidly deployable small UAS solution to conduct Reconnaissance and Surveillance (R&S) activities.

Skydio X2D allows military and defense customers to perform reconnaissance, search and rescue, and security patrol missions. Skydio X2D pairs Skydio Autonomy, its AI-driven flight autonomy software, with a foldable, highly portable airframe. X2 features a dual 12MP sensor and is equipped with GPS-based night flight and strobe lighting.

“We are proud to have been selected by the U.S. Army for the final integration in the SRR program,” Adam Bry, Skydio CEO, said. “The Army has done incredible work to ensure our soldiers have access to cutting-edge drone technology. This milestone is the result of years of research and development in autonomous flight and core technologies. It is a testament to the breakthrough capabilities of the Skydio X2D and our world-class team.”

The Army decided to continue with Skydio after extensive testing and evaluation. Soldier feedback and design review packages were used to assess the overall product performance, quality, as well as readiness to scale production.

“Access to accurate, timely information on the battlefield is a critical determining factor for mission success,” Chuck McGraw, Skydio director of federal sales, said. “Drones are powerful situational awareness tools for organic unit-level ISR, but legacy manual solutions are difficult to fly and easy to crash. With its unmatched AI-powered autonomy, Skydio X2D represents the next step in the evolution of small unmanned aircraft systems for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) to reduce cognitive overload by unlocking the simplest and most effective flight experience.”