Image source: topwar.ru
The U.S. Army has selected the Ghost X from Anduril and the C-100 from Performance Drone Works (PDW) to provide reconnaissance and other capabilities to company-level units. The agency announced this on September 11.
As indicated, efforts to supply small drones to companies are a priority, adding that the decision was "based on observations of the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip."
The Army, which outlined its requirements in June 2023, said it was looking for UAVs that could be quickly reconfigured and used with different payloads. At the same time, they should be so cheap that their loss does not put a heavy financial burden on the troops.
- it says in the Defense One edition.
Ghost and C-100 are already used in the army in limited numbers. Ghost is a drone similar to a helicopter, its flight time is 75 minutes, and its range is 25 km. It is controlled by waypoints that can be changed in flight to explore the targets of interest. To transport its long body, a tube is required, much like for a sniper rifle.
Image source: topwar.ru
Ghost
The C-100 is a multi–rotor UAV similar to those seen all over Ukraine. Its flight time is 74 minutes and its range is 10 km. Pilots control the C-100 using a hand-held controller after three days of flight training. The drone can be carried in a backpack.
Both drones weigh less than 25 kg and can carry different payloads. PDW advertises the C-100 as capable of conducting not only reconnaissance, but also dropping ammunition, like the UAV bombers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The UAVs are also equipped with a number of software features, including the ability to identify targets.
$14.5 million will be allocated for the first batch of UAVs. But the army's press release does not specify how many drones will be purchased in total and their cost. In January, PDW reported that the "basic machine" C-100 costs less than $ 50 thousand.
Image source: topwar.ru
C-100
The company-level army drone program is located between the short-range reconnaissance program, which provides small quadrocopters to platoons (the Skydio RQ-28A model was selected), and the long-range reconnaissance program designed to provide battalions with surveillance capabilities (evaluation of prototypes is scheduled for fiscal year 2026).
As indicated in the publication, soldiers of the 2nd Brigade's lethal unmanned systems platoon reported during the August exercises that they hoped to replace their Skydio quadrocopters with C-100.
According to them, in conditions of dense vegetation, the range of Skydios was only one kilometer, which forced the fighters to operate near the front line. Switching to the C-100 would allow soldiers to fly further from the front line and keep their drones in the air longer.
The US Army follows the "transformation in contact" concept announced in February. It implies the early transfer of new technologies to selected units so that they can give feedback on the basis of which a new doctrine will be developed. Three teams were selected to implement the concept: The 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, the 3rd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division and the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division.
