The deal covers an undisclosed number and type of Group 3-sized uncrewed aircraft.
The US Air Force is expanding its inventory into the burgeoning category of one-way attack drones.
Under an $18.5 million contract announced on 13 May, California uncrewed systems start-up Aevex will provide the air force with an unspecified number of autonomous aircraft for one-way attack missions.
Although the quantity and type of UAS are not specified, Aevex confirms the aircraft will fall into the Group 3 category, meaning they will weigh less than 600kg (1,320lb) and have an altitude ceiling below 18,000ft and maximum airspeed of less than 250kt (463km/h).
“The platform is designed for affordability, manufacturability and mission flexibility, incorporating autonomy enabling frameworks that help reduce operator workload and support diverse operational needs,” Aevex says of the one-way attack system.
The company offers four designs in the Group-3 class, including the Raker, Onyx, Dominator and Disruptor. Each offers a mix of multi-mission capabilities and performance, with payloads ranging from 13kg to 30kg and flight ranges from 145nm (270km) to 756nm.
At least two of those designs come with features to maintain operations in GPS-denied environments, including GNSS hardening, visual navigation systems, and alternative position, navigation and timing technology.
Aevex declines to disclose which UAS type is covered under the latest air force contract.
One possibility is that the company is producing what is currently the US military’s only frontline one-way attack platform – the SpektreWorks FLM 136 – under licence from its designer.
Arizona-based drone manufacturer SpektreWorks reverse engineered an Iranian HESA Shahed-136 one-way attack system as part of a 2025 US military contract seeking to develop a cheap aerial target drone that could be used to support the development of counter-drone air defence systems.
The Pentagon subsequently expanded the scope of the project to field the FLM 136 as a frontline offensive munition, which has since been dubbed the LUCAS, or Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System. Each of those drones offers a 434nm flight range at a cost of $55,000 or less, while carrying an explosive payload exceeding that of a Hellfire air-to-surface missile.
Washington stood up its first one-way attack squadron in December, equipping the Middle East-based task force with LUCAS drones. The new weapons, which are a cross between a cruise missile and uncrewed aerial vehicle, have subsequently seen combat in Iran as part of the joint US-Israeli air campaign launched in late February.
Russia is also engaged in high-rate production of its own Shahed-136 derivative, dubbed the Geran-2.
Both Tehran and Moscow have developed more advanced Shahed/Geran variants using turbojet engines, rather than the small fuel engine turboprop used on the 136 and its knockoffs.
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