Army Expands Drone Marketplace Access to Allies, Partners

Army’s 2026 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle was joined Oct. 13 by representatives from Albania, Canada, Croatia, Egypt, Japan, Kuwait, Morocco and Panama who signed statements of intent, expanding foreign access to the Army’s secure Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) marketplace.

The marketplace gives allies and partners access to drone and counter-drone capabilities that have been proven on today’s battlefields. Telle said the marketplace is “revolutionary.” “The marketplace is connecting soldiers directly with builders and removing the bureaucratic middlemen,” he said. “This is revolutionary in the U.S.

Army, and I hope it helps revolutionize the ability of our partners to get the assets they need to their soldiers.” Retired Gen. Bob Brown, AUSA president and CEO, said that with the 10 signatories added Oct. 13, there are now 33 allies and partners who have joined the marketplace.

Brent Ingraham, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and the Army acquisition executive, said the initiative began in June, when nine countries signed a statement of intent to join the drone marketplace, a centralized procurement platform for UAS and C-UAS and related defense technologies, he said. “Four months later, more than two dozen nations across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas are part of this framework,” Ingraham said. “With today's signing, the marketplace is now truly a global effort.” He said the equipment listed on the Amazon.com-like marketplace are screened by the Army for exportability, performance and cybersecurity, and the pricing of items is “transparent and pre-negotiated.” The marketplace system also auto-generates purchase agreements automatically, reducing administrative steps, turning “what once took months” into days, Ingraham said.

He said the Army continues to streamline the process. “We're making it easier for our allies and partners to work with us. That's why we built this UAS and counter-UAS marketplace.

Our mission is to deliver commercial agility within an accountable government-to-government framework.” Since launching in March, the UAS marketplace has processed approximately $800 million in transactions, Ingraham said. The marketplace represents “a fundamental shift in how we do business in the Army by leveraging the speed and solutions of the commercial sector,” he said. “But we cannot and should not build this industrial base alone.” “Just as we are unleashing these commercial solutions across the United States, we need to bring the ingenuity of our allies and partners directly into this innovative ecosystem,” he said.