US Army Makes Merops Interceptor Drone a Program of Record in 142 Days After 13,000-Unit Order

The US Army transitioned the Merops counter-UAS interceptor drone into a formal program of record in 142 days, beating its Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate's 180-day standard process and bypassing a legacy 16-step review structure that previously took two to seven years. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll testified that the service purchased 13,000 Merops interceptors in partnership with the Joint Interagency Task Force within approximately eight days after the conflict with Iran began, following an initial deployment to NATO partners in about 21 or 22 days. Each interceptor currently costs about $15,000, with Driscoll stating that scaled production could drop the price below $10,000 and larger orders could eventually reduce unit costs to between $3,000 and $5,000. Originally developed under the US-backed Project Eagle initiative with contributions from Eric Schmidt-associated Swift Beat, the system uses Surveyor drones with onboard sensors to intercept Shahed-136 one-way attack munitions autonomously or by remote control via direct impact or a proximity-detonated warhead. "We will work to fill that valley of death gap between the time that we put capability into the hands of units and the time that the PM picks it up and actually [provides funding]." — Col. Christopher Hill, Director of the Army's Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate