- The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has initiated a $6.5m industrial competition to design and develop a heavy-lift drone
- Tenders will provide a vertical lift capability, solving the enduring payload-to-weight ratio problem
- Each uncrewed aerial system (UAS) must weigh no more than 55 pounds and be able to carry exactly double its own total weight across a five-nautical mile course.
DARPA has initiated a $6.5m industrial competition to design a concept for a vertical heavy-lift drone, aiming to overcome what has hitherto been an unavoidable trade off between payload and weight.
The programme manager of the Lift Challenge, Phillip Smith, said that a successful system would “redefine” vertical lift aviation entirely, while summing up their goal to “dramatically” increase the useful load and drive down the cost per pound of transported cargo.
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DARPA, which funds high-risk but high-reward defence technology projects, set out its criteria, stating the UAS cannot be more than 55 pounds/25 kilos (including fuel or power source) and must be capable of lifting a minimum payload of 110 pounds – exactly double the total weight of the drone itself – across a five-nautical mile circuit course.
It is said that teams will go head-to-head in live performance trials in the summer of 2026.
US military introduce logistical drones
It is telling that the agency stipulates that tendered systems must lift for a distance of five nautical miles. The criterion indicates an ambition to deploy logistical UAS across a maritime space.
For years, the US defence doctrine has been pivoting to the vast Indo-Pacific expanse to contain a militarily aggressive China, a reality that was difficult for Europe to swallow when the second Trump administration entered office last year. This was encapsulated by an American tirade of Nato leaders in Brussels in February 2025.
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By GlobalDataAccording to intelligence from the leading analytics firm GlobalData, the global military uncrewed maritime vehicles market, valued at $1.8bn in 2025, is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.9% over the next decade. It is expected to reach $4.2bn by 2035.
In particular, the US Marine Corps (USMC) has made strides in their efforts to utilise future drone technology for what it is known as ‘last-mile logistics’ – the final leg of the supply chain that is typically in a hostile, complex and contested environment, making it the most challenging and dangerous part of the resupply process.
In such an environment the US military no longer want to ‘trade blood for first contact’ as they lean on autonomous uncrewed systems (UxS) to do the job for them. To this end, the USMC – the forward deployed and amphibious element of the Navy – all manner of of UxS above, on and below the surface of the ocean.
This includes the Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel, Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft, and the Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System (TRUAS).
Close, but no cigar
The latter, it seems, is one of the closest drone resupply capabilities the service currently operate at this time.
Although the autonomous TRUAS needs two Marines to operate still, the drone is also capable of carrying somewhere between 120 to 150 pound payload of items like batteries, medical supplies, food, and ammunition over a nine-mile range (or 7.8 nautical miles).
However, this does not resolve the payload-to-weight problem as the drone is said to weigh 125 pounds – that is 70 pounds more than the Lift Challenge requirement.
Meanwhile, industry have understood the US military requirement for drone logistics at sea with Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, having recently unveiled its own unique concept: the S-70 UAS, nicknamed the U-Hawk.
The U-Hawk is a converted UH-60L Black Hawk utility helicopter made autonomous with the Matrix autonomy stack. As a UAS, the platform has 25% more usuable cabin space to be used for mission requirements, whether that involves launched effects, sensor systems, or space for supplies.
But of course this is still far too heavy a drone weighing more than 20,000 pounds.
