AUSA 2026: SkyFoundry programme rebrands to ‘Advanced Manufacturing for sUAS'

Altavian's Ion M440 small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) that was selected as part of the Pentagon's Blue sUAS effort. (Altavian)

The US Army's SkyFoundry small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) initiative has rebranded to ‘Advanced Manufacturing for sUAS' as the service shifts its focus from manufacturing complete unmanned aerial systems in favour of producing components.

SkyFoundry at its inception had a goal of manufacturing up to 10,000 drones a month (120,000 a year) in 2026 before eventually scaling to greater numbers over subsequent years. Its original goal was to match the millions of drones manufactured by countries like Ukraine or Russia, which are reshaping the current battlefield with their UAS platforms.

“We quickly modified our strategy to move from systems to a component manufacturing perspective because we realized that was the bigger problem in the United States,” Jon Strzelec, advanced manufacturing lead for sUAS at Army Materiel Command (AMC), told Janes on 6 October. “You couldn't get after systems without figuring out how to onshore domestically the actual subcomponents that make the systems.”

Adjusting production goals

Strzelec stated that the American economy is not positioned to produce the 120,000 drones originally called for at SkyFoundry's inception, so AMC is now using the programme to “induce some of the requirements to the American economy from the industry side of the house to where they can ramp up with an actual demand behind it instead of a hope”.

He told Janes, “After investigating and researching into the supply chain to support 120,000 systems a year, the Army realised that its better investment and strategy was after component manufacturing to help shore up the domestic supply chains that are needed for both ourselves and our industry partners.”