USAF Awards Contracts for 'Wild Dog' Loitering Munition
A new contract has been awarded for a tactical loitering munition system dubbed "Wild Dog". The award is part of a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program and underscores the military's growing investment in autonomous, long-range, and responsive strike capabilities.
- The $1,799,856 contract was awarded to a small business, Stratin Engineering, for the Phase II development of the "Wild Dog" system. - This munition is designed to launch from larger drones (Group 3 to 5) or manned aircraft and autonomously engage moving targets up to 20 km away after a target is designated. - A key technical feature is its deployment from a Common Launch Tube (CLT), a standardized system that enables various aircraft to launch a range of munitions and sensors, increasing modularity and mission flexibility. - To speed up development, the "Wild Dog" will be built on a modified, existing Group 2 UAV airframe and will leverage a new, in-house mission computer optimized for size, weight, and power (SWaP) to handle image processing and flight control. - The core innovation challenge for this type of loitering munition is autonomously tracking and striking a mobile target that may be obscured or in a GPS-jammed environment, a problem other contractors are also working to solve. - This award is part of a broader Air Force topic (AF241-D018, "Long Range Strike System") that also awarded similar contracts to other small businesses, including Alare Technologies ($1.76M) and Corvid Technologies ($1.78M), to foster competition and diverse solutions. - The project falls under the AFWERX innovation arm of the Air Force, which uses programs like the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) to fund cooperative R&D between small companies and research institutions, aiming to accelerate technology transition to operational use.
