US Army’s $ 170,000 attack competes with $ 500

New budget documents Show that the US Army is making little progress in its efforts to cover Ukraine and Russia by acquiring small attack aircraft such as the omnipresent FPVs present. But they also show that there is still a long way to go, and instead of plenty of low -cost systems, the army will achieve some expensive systems for the immediate future.

Pursuit and low altitude strike

Two years ago, in July 2023, the US Army announced a new Low altitude program (Lasso). The new weapon was in “an urgent way of acquiring capacity to quickly deliver this skill to the Combat Combat (IBCT) team”.

The project was clearly inspired by Ukraine, where the small FPV Quadcopters were making Russian shielding long distance and would give the army similar skill

“Lasso is a portable, the launched tube, a deadly luxurious load, the unmanned aerial system. Includes electric optical /infrared sensor, accuracy control and the ability to fly, monitor and engage in stations that are not precise control.

The big difference here is that Lasso will have an infrared sensor or thermal imaging, they are still rare in FPVs because they usually add $ 200- $ 500 to the cost, so Daytime FPV generally lack them. And while in Ukraine FPV they are transferred to a backpack and started from a stop, the US Army wanted a tube version. This will be launched by compressed air or other gas, and then unfold its wings, making it for a faster and easier launch, but at the cost of some cost and complexity.

The Lasso requirement is for a 20km range and the ability to destroy armored vehicles, including tanks, doing the same job as FPVs,

There is a wide variety of FPVs used in Ukraine, which varies in size, payload and additives. Usually cost about $ 500. Ukrainian drone serhii sternenko – who has supplied an amazing 200,000 FPV in the army, and targeted by a killer As a result – – Quotes of $ 300 for a small 7 -inch FPV and $ 460 for 10 -inch, On the other hand, Russian manufacturer Frobotics It offers an input model for $ 315 and a heavy lift (20-pound Warhead) for $ 756.

These are done in huge numbers. Ukraine recently announced that it had increased aircraft production to 200,000 per month or about 6,000 per day. A report by Rusi said small aircraft now cause 60-70% of Russian victims.

In December 2023 Aerovieldment announced that the army had chosen Switchblade 600 for the Lasso requirement. The Switchblade 600, started in 2020, is the big brother on the Switchblade 300 with a longer distance and a greater head. The Switchblade 300 was extensively used in Iraq and Afghanistan against “high -value targets” from about 2012. Budget documents showed the cost Switchblade 300s 52.914 $ But so far there has been no information on the accurate pricing of 600.

Follow the money

US Army Budget for rockets for FY2026Released last month, it gives a few details about Lasso and the rationale for it:

“IBCTs do not have sufficient proportional organic capabilities in Echelon for the implementation of immediate, large, large impact and immediate fire for the destruction of tanks, light armored vehicles, hardening targets, individuals and staff targets.. “Lasso will “Turn on the soldier to create multiple tracks in the iBCT typically assigned Battlespace, to obtain and attack targets in and beyond today’s served crew and fire fire”

In other words, doing exactly what FPVs do in Ukraine.

But how many will be acquired and how much?

The document shows that the army buys 294 Switchblade 600 Lasso Rounds at a cost of $ 170,000 each.

In addition, the army also acquires 54 ground control units. Instead of the trade controllers that cost a few hundred dollars in the hands of the Ukrainian FPVs, they go for $ 69,204 each.

This really shows what has been observed many times before: that producing high -specified tools in tiny quantities means that you pay boutiques.

This tiny quantity will limit the number of farms trained and will not shoot many live rounds in education.

It is worth noting that at $ 170ka it is only excessively in the context of the material used by Russian and Ukraine. According to military standards it is quite normal. The same supply budget shows the latest batch of the army of the army of the army that cost $ 221k per block-and the reusable control unit required to shoot them is another $ 208K.

And if that sounds expensive his new army ultrasonic rocket lrhw It will cost a huge $ 36 million at a time. “Expensive” is all the issue of what you get used to.

FPVS for the army

In another budget, however, we find that the army also takes something more like the FPVs used in Ukraine through a very different program.

THE Army aircraft budget for FY2026 Includes money for “FPV/PBAS” – “PBAS” which is a “built system of values”, which is the new army’s buzzword for consumable aircraft. The PBAS will bring a variety of “deadly/non -deadly weapons and ammunition”. As in Ukraine, these can be placed with the battery immediately before launching.

A PBAS system consists of first -person glasses (FPV), controller, leader display, two aircraft vehicles and four 5 “aircraft” and costs $ 34,826. Depending on the other elements, aircraft are likely to be about $ 5k each.

The construction of aircraft in the US will always be more expensive because they cannot use simple Chinese low cost components, such as Ukrainians and Russians and labor and other costs, will be inevitable. $ 5k may be expensive from Ukrainian standards, but they will comply with US military standards and the production route is short.

Given that only 1,057 systems are ordered, the $ 5K price may be the best that can be expected. This means at least that this program is providing more than 20 times more attack aircraft as Lasso for less total cost.

The PBAS requirement is met by various suppliers, it may include Neros, previously noted for the provision of thousands of FPVs to Ukraine. Neros co-founder and CEO Soren Monroe-Anderson told me that in Ukraine he was told that any business he wishes to supply had to be able to provide 5,000 FPVs a month or go home and their business is based on a large number of low-cost drones.

This week Monroe-Anderson I said to the new defense news That Neros aims to be able to produce 10,000 aircraft per month by January and that the long -term vision of a factory to produce a million aircraft a year with the US defense department as its main customer.

The real battle

These budget documents reveal the battle inside the army among traditional old -fashioned suppliers and high -cost high -cost products from the disturbed newcomers who offer low cost technology in huge numbers.

In a stranger, the road forward can be obvious. But the defensive business has its own way of working. In Ukraine and Russia, the FPVs were so vital that many soldiers began buying aircraft with their own money until the military supply process finally began to supply them.

Another Chink appeared this week with a Army calls for invitationswith the aim of obtaining thousands of aircraft quickly at a cost of less than $ 2ka. They want more, faster, cheaper than Lasso.

Maybe next year he will see the army put his money behind small aircraft to a large extent. But a well -established bureaucracy is a tougher opponent to shift from a dugstry battalion.