U.S. Army opens digital drone marketplace

The Army formally unveiled the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Marketplace on March 24, 2026 at Redstone Arsenal during the AUSA Global Force Symposium (March 24–26), and the platform was developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services and the Army Enterprise Cloud Management Agency. (army.mil)) A Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) for the UAS Marketplace was posted on SAM.gov as notice W58RGZ-26-S-C001, published March 25, 2026, specifically calling for onboarding of Group 1 and Group 2 UAS and Launched Effects with offers due April 17, 2026. (sam.gov)) The Army’s Project Office for UAS used the Marketplace Basic Ordering Agreement to award a March 20, 2026 production contract to AeroVironment for P550 long-range reconnaissance (LRR) systems, a procurement the office said was processed through the UAS Marketplace BOA. (army.mil)) Skydio announced the Army placed an order exceeding $52 million for more than 2,500 X10D tactical drones, and the company said the transaction moved from bid to award in under 72 hours — a speed the service is using to highlight the Marketplace’s accelerated ordering pathway. (skydio.com)) Army acquisition leadership signaled a rapid rollout and wider DoD use: Assistant Secretary Brent Ingraham said the service plans to expand the Marketplace across the Pentagon “in the next month or so,” and reporting on the CSO notes the solicitation will remain open “in perpetuity” until canceled. (defensedaily.com)) Industry engagement already includes competitive BOAs and vendor onboarding (Heven AeroTech announced a BOA award on March 12), and the SAM.gov solicitation lists contracting points of contact (Latoya Pryor and Miguel Harris) and Redstone Arsenal as the place of performance for onboarding. (tmcnet.com))