The US Army has awarded drone manufacturer Skydio a $7.9-million contract to supply X10D small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS).
This award falls under the Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) Tranche 2 program, where Skydio will deliver additional X10D units, support, and training for tactical reconnaissance missions close to front lines.
The contract builds on Skydio’s earlier participation in SRR Tranche 1, and is part of the army’s broader efforts to field more responsive, soldier-deployable drones.
Skydio said it will produce and deliver the X10D systems over the period of performance, with drones “designed, assembled, and supported” domestically at its manufacturing facility in California.
The X10D
The Skydio X10D is built for rapid deployment with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities and fully autonomous flight. This allows dismounted soldiers the ability to scout terrain, spot threats, and relay imagery in real time. It also combines portability with ruggedness for missions in contested environments.
The drone carries a powerful sensor suite that includes a 48-megapixel telephoto camera and a Teledyne FLIR Boson+ thermal sensor, which makes it capable of detecting subtle temperature differences in each pixel.
Its onboard AI enables visual navigation and obstacle avoidance in every direction, while maintaining positional awareness even when GPS signals are jammed or degraded by electronic warfare.
The X10D is built on a modular, open platform and supports third-party attachments and controllers for mission flexibility. It also features chip-level security protections, ensuring data integrity from firmware upward.
The US SRR Program
The SRR program is the US Army’s effort to acquire a family of small, rugged drones for near-field reconnaissance tasks. It is intended to fill a capability gap between hand-launched micro-UAVs and longer-range systems.
The SRR competition is structured in multiple tranches. Tranche 1 saw awards to several vendors while Tranche 2 continues that path with further buys and support contracts.
Other contracts under SRR include awards to companies like Red Cat, which are supplying alternative sUAS platforms for evaluation. Contracts also cover training, sustainment, software updates, and integration with command-and-control systems.
