The U.S. Marine Corps is looking for a new anti-tank loitering munition to field for the Fleet Marine Force.
The service wants the kamikaze drone, called the Organic Precision Fires–Medium, or OPF-M, to have a range of at least around 15 miles and be light enough to be carried by two dismounted Marines.
“Marines will employ OPF-M at the tactical level to enable engagement of armored targets beyond the range of direct fire weapons while minimizing collateral damage and exposure to enemy direct and indirect fires during distributed operations,” a Request for White Paper from Marine Corps Systems Command states.
The RFW deadline is May 26.
Under the requested specifications, the drone would have a loiter time of at least 20 minutes, while the warhead must be powerful enough to destroy armored vehicles or at least achieve a mobility kill.
The munition itself should weigh less than 35 pounds, and less than 20 pounds for the ground control station, the request states.
The Marine Corps wants the drone to feature automatic target tracking, which enables it to follow a moving target autonomously without human intervention. Nonetheless, OPF-M “shall be a Man in the Loop system,” the RFW specified.
Navigational waypoints could be set before launch and in mid-flight, according to the document. The Marine Corps also envisions a distributed system in which control of a drone could be handed from one ground control station to the next.
Interestingly, the RFW also lists several potential future capabilities for OPF-M that include targeting more than enemy tanks.
For example, drones could be equipped for “maritime targets, drones, personnel formations, advanced sensor packages, electromagnetic effects, and other types of payloads,” the document states.
Other future enhancements include automatic target recognition, functionality in GPS-denied environments, frequency hopping to avoid jamming of command links and enabling a single ground station to control multiple drones.
The RFW suggests the Marine Corps wants to move fairly fast on the project.
It asks respondents to estimate how long it will take to produce 50 all-up-round munitions and 10 ground control station kits.
Respondents should also specify their potential OPF-M production capacity for FY2027-28 as well as FY2029-2031.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army awarded AeroVironment a $186 million contract in February for Switchblade loitering munitions, including some armed with explosively formed penetrator warheads to destroy armored vehicles.
AeroVironment this month also announced the debut of a new drone, known as MAYHEM 10, with the capacity to carry out reconnaissance, electronic warfare and strike missions, expanding upon its Switchblade family that is already being fielded by the Army.
Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him on X at @Mipeck1. His email is [email protected].
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