Marine Corps RFI Calls for Low-Cost FPV Drones: Under $4,000 Per Airframe
The U.S. Marine Corps has put industry on notice: it wants first person view (FPV) capable small UAS in huge numbers, at low cost, and built to be modified and repaired at the edge.
A new Sources Sought Notice from NAVAIR’s PMA-263 is not a formal solicitation, but it clearly signals where Marine Corps small UAS requirements are headed and what FPV manufacturers must deliver to compete.
Market research with a clear message: low-cost FPV at scale
The notice is a market research tool, not a request for proposal. The goal is to understand the commercial industrial base for FPV-capable small UAS that can be produced in the thousands.
Any candidate system must either be fully compliant with:
or show a credible path to compliance. That language ties the effort directly to ongoing national security concerns about foreign made drones and components.
The Marine Corps calls out one central requirement: low cost. The unit cost for each air vehicle must be less than 4,000 dollars, with vendors required to break out total system cost. That total includes the aircraft, ground control, communication links, FPV goggles, batteries, chargers, and any other required parts.
Cost is described as the “primary weighted measure” in the government’s evaluation. Performance and features matter, but only after the price point is met.
Production timelines: thousands of drones in a year
The Marines are not just shopping for prototypes. They are asking vendors to prove they can build at scale, on a tight schedule.
Industry is asked to demonstrate the ability to:
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Deliver an initial quantity of systems by 1 January 2026
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Ramp to 5,000 air vehicles within 6 months
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Reach 10,000 units within 12 months
Vendors must also state how many complete systems they can ship immediately from current inventory. This is a strong signal that the service wants a mature, ready-to-produce industrial base, not paper designs.
Companies must also describe their supply chain plans for large government orders, and provide a detailed bill of materials for every component in the system, including part numbers, manufacturers, and unit costs.
Built to be modified, repaired and armed by Marines
A key theme in the notice is field independence. The Marine Corps wants systems that Marines can modify, repair, and even convert from non-kinetic to kinetic roles without vendor help.
The government specifies:
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Marines must be able to add third party payloads, including armaments and munitions, “within reason”
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Marines must be able to repair the system on their own
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Non-kinetic UAS must be convertible to kinetic UAS in the field
The notice mentions simple lethal payloads such as 30 mm mortars and grenades, and also calls out non-lethal missions and the potential to use these aircraft as targets during C-UAS training.
This points directly to the emerging role of FPV drones as low-cost, attritable weapons and training tools, rather than delicate ISR assets.
FPV plus autonomy, AI and open architecture
While the cost and volume signals are blunt, the technical wish list is also ambitious.
The Marines ask about:
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Max weight, payload, speed, altitude, range, and endurance for 5 inch and 10 inch systems
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Modular, multi-mission payload capability
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Modular Open Systems Architecture standards
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Autonomy features such as waypoint navigation, obstacle avoidance, and swarm control
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AI and machine learning functions, from object recognition to target tracking
The RFI also probes for interoperability with common tools and frameworks, including ATAK, ROS, OpenMAVLink, and standard AI model formats such as ONNX and TensorFlow Lite. The service wants systems that can plug into AI-enabled command and control networks and share real time data.
Transmission links may be analog, digital, GSM, or fiber, reflecting the Marine Corps’ interest in flexible communications rather than a single mandated solution.
A new chapter for FPV and the U.S. drone industrial base
This notice is labeled “for information only,” but the intent is clear. The Marine Corps is preparing for potential fielding of thousands of low-cost, FPV-capable drones that are modular, repairable, and NDAA compliant.
For FPV manufacturers, that creates a new set of targets: sub-4,000 dollar airframes, rapid scaling to five-figure production volumes, and designs that invite Marine-led modification instead of locking users into proprietary ecosystems.
For the broader U.S. drone ecosystem, it marks another step in the shift toward mass-produced, expendable systems that blend hobby-style agility with defense-grade requirements and secure supply chains.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
TWITTER:@spaldingbarker
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