Xtremis Wins Army Contract for AI Drone-Detection Research

The Washington, D.C., firm secured a firm-fixed-price award valued at up to $46.8 million to develop machine-learning methods for spotting unmanned aircraft, with work running through October 2029.

First Published: August 4, 2026, 1:15 PM ET

Xtremis Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based technology firm, won an Army contract to develop artificial intelligence that detects hostile drones, its first federal award recorded in the database, as announced on war.gov.

The firm-fixed-price contract carries an initial value of $13.9 million and a total cumulative face value of $46,827,900, according to war.gov. The Army solicited one bid and received one, and it obligated $2.7 million in fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funds at the time of the award.

Work will be performed in West Fork, Arkansas, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 30, 2029, according to war.gov. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity under contract number W911QX-26-C-A019. The award was announced July 15, 2026.

The research targets machine-learning methods for the detection of unmanned aerial systems, the small and increasingly cheap aircraft that militaries now treat as a persistent battlefield threat. Detecting drones early gives commanders time to jam, intercept or destroy them before they strike troops or equipment. The initiative aims to enhance military capabilities in identifying drones through October 2029, according to war.gov.

The award marks the first contract to Xtremis Inc., Washington, D.C., in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $13,905,295, according to war.gov. It stands as the 17th Department of Defense contract awarded in Washington during 2026 and established the company’s initial benchmark within the Army portfolio. The action falls between the 2026 Army portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $9.1 million and its maximum of $53.9 billion.

Average readers rarely see counter-drone research contracts, yet the technology increasingly touches civilian life. Airports, stadiums and power plants face the same low-cost aerial threats that concern the Army, and detection systems built for soldiers often migrate to domestic security. The Arkansas work could feed tools that later guard public gatherings and critical infrastructure.

The Army has pursued drone-detection technology before. Counter-UAS spending across the Defense Department has climbed as small aircraft proliferated in conflicts abroad, and the service has funded multiple research efforts to track, identify and defeat them. This award adds a machine-learning approach to that broader push.

Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground will oversee the work and any decisions on the contract’s progress through the estimated completion date of Oct. 30, 2029, according to war.gov. No date for a follow-on award or option decision has been announced.

The hunt for a technological answer to aerial threats stretches back more than a century, as happened before. During World War I, the Army first fielded acoustic locators, large horns that let listeners detect approaching aircraft by sound before radar existed, and by the 1930s these devices dotted coastal defenses. Radar rendered them obsolete within a decade, but the underlying goal never changed. Each generation of detection technology, from listening horns to today’s machine-learning sensors, has reshaped how the Army defends the airspace above its soldiers.

This contract represents the 1st contract awarded to Xtremis Inc., Washington, D.C., in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $13,905,295. It is also the 17th Department of Defense contract awarded in Washington during 2026. Because this is the first award to Xtremis Inc., Washington, D.C. recorded in the database, it establishes the company’s initial benchmark within the Army portfolio. Specifically, it falls between the 2026 Army portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $9,051,490 and maximum of $53,859,843,289. Overall, this award was announced among 17 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on July 15, 2026.