Orqa U.S. has secured a $38 million contract to manufacture drones for the U.S. Department of War’s Drone Dominance Gauntlet II programme. The award follows Orqa U.S.’s performance in the close-quarters portion of the competition and will expand U.S.-based production of the company’s MRM2-series unmanned systems.
Orqa U.S. says the selected system is from the MRM2 product suite and combines an 8-inch indoor drone with the company’s ground control system. Manufacturing will be supported by By Light Professional IT Services at its 180,000-square-foot facility in Port Orange, Florida.
The Award Follows Orqa U.S.’s Second-Place Close-Quarters Performance
Orqa U.S. says it placed second globally in the close-quarters portion of Gauntlet II before receiving the $38 million manufacturing award. The company was one of the firms competing in the Department’s Tactical Assault in Confined Environments mission area, which was designed to test small unmanned systems in close-range, complex environments.
The official Drone Dominance Program describes Gauntlet II as a competitive evaluation built around find-fix-finish missions in either deep-strike or close-quarters scenarios. Systems were also assessed through controlled kinetic-engagement and electronic-warfare lanes, while military operators and production-readiness factors contributed to final scoring.
Drone Dominance Is Structured to Turn Competition Results Into Orders
The Drone Dominance Program differs from a traditional demonstration because its Gauntlet events are tied directly to prototype delivery orders. The Department says Gauntlet II will result in orders for 60,000 drones from top-performing companies, with final quantities allocated at contract award.
The wider programme is even larger. Its official objective is to purchase more than 200,000 drones by 2027, creating an advanced market commitment intended to give manufacturers clearer demand signals and encourage domestic production capacity.
Orqa U.S. Had Already Delivered 240 Drones
The new award builds on an earlier $1.5 million action under which Orqa U.S. says it delivered 240 drones. The company does not disclose the quantity associated with the new $38 million award, so the earlier delivery rate should not be used to estimate the size or unit cost of the follow-on contract.
That distinction matters because the new award may include production expansion, ground-control equipment, integration, testing, support or configuration differences in addition to air vehicles. No public contract breakdown has yet been released.
The Selected System Comes From the MRM2 Family
Orqa U.S. identifies the selected configuration as part of its MRM2 suite, featuring an 8-inch drone and Orqa ground-control equipment. The company says the underlying technology has been refined over roughly a decade and used in demanding operational environments, including real-world combat conditions.
The MRM2 family is designed around modularity, responsive control and resilient communications. Orqa’s publicly available product material for the broader family emphasises EW-resilient links, modular payload architecture and compatibility with professional autopilot and command-and-control ecosystems.
U.S. Manufacturing Is Central to the Award
Orqa U.S. was established through a partnership between Orqa and By Light Professional IT Services. Orqa contributes the drone technology, while By Light supports U.S. manufacturing, compliance and production scaling.
By Light’s Port Orange, Florida facility covers approximately 180,000 square feet and supports unmanned-aircraft assembly, advanced manufacturing, testing, quality control and onshoring. The partnership was specifically structured to move Orqa technology into a U.S.-owned and independently controlled entity capable of supplying government customers at scale.
The Industrial Model Addresses Supply-Chain Security
Orqa U.S. positions itself around a U.S.-compliant supply chain rather than simply final assembly inside the country. The company says Orqa products contain no Chinese critical components and that key elements are designed, engineered and built in-house.
That positioning aligns directly with the Drone Dominance Program’s stated requirement for low-cost small UAS built from resilient supply chains. For U.S. defence customers, domestic production and component traceability are becoming procurement criteria alongside flight performance.
Gauntlet II Tested Manufacturing as Well as Mission Performance
Before entering Gauntlet II, participating companies had to demonstrate that they could produce and deliver 120 drones equipped with lethality payloads in approximately five weeks. The requirement was designed to prevent prototype-only systems from advancing without evidence of scalable production.
The official programme says final scoring combined mission performance, military-operator evaluations and demonstrated production and supply-chain capability. Orqa U.S.’s award therefore reflects both aircraft performance and the government’s assessment of its ability to manufacture at useful volume.
Close-Quarters Drone Demand Is Becoming a Distinct Procurement Category
The close-quarters mission is operationally different from the long-range strike drones that dominate many current procurement discussions. Confined environments place a premium on manoeuvrability, low-latency control, operator situational awareness and reliable communications around structures and obstacles.
Orqa U.S.’s selected 8-inch platform fits that mission profile. The public announcement does not specify the lethality payload, endurance, range or exact electronic-warfare performance of the awarded configuration, so those parameters should remain undisclosed until government or company documentation provides them.
The Award Also Validates an Allied-Technology Onshoring Model
Orqa’s technology base originated outside the United States, while Orqa U.S. was created as an independently controlled U.S. entity to serve American government customers. The model combines allied technology with domestic production rather than requiring every unmanned system to originate from a clean-sheet U.S. development programme.
If the approach scales successfully, it could provide the Pentagon with another route to expand its drone industrial base quickly: identify proven allied designs, establish compliant U.S. ownership and manufacturing, and then compete them through performance-based acquisition programmes.
What Remains Undisclosed
Orqa U.S. has not disclosed the exact number of drones covered by the $38 million award, delivery timing, unit price, lethality-provider pairing or detailed performance characteristics of the awarded 8-inch configuration.
The next meaningful indicators will be production quantities, delivery milestones, follow-on Drone Dominance awards and evidence of U.S. military fielding. Until then, the verified core is that Orqa U.S. has converted its Gauntlet II close-quarters performance into a $38 million U.S. manufacturing contract.
