US Army expands drone marketplace to 33 nations

The U.S. Army’s online marketplace for rapid drone acquisition is expanding internationally. Representatives of Canada, Croatia, Egypt, Japan, Kuwait, Morocco, Albania and Panama signed a statement of intent to join the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Marketplace during a ceremony Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Retired Gen. Robert Brown, president and CEO of AUSA, said that the signing brought the total number of participating nations to 33. The marketplace was launched in March 2026 with nine European signers and continues to grow across regional allies and partners.“With today’s signing, the marketplace is now truly a global effort,” said Brent Ingraham, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. “It’s not a concept or a pilot program or some distant future. It is live.”Since the marketplace was stood up, it has processed $800 million in transactions. More recently, the Army awarded counter-UAS contract vehicles worth $7 billion through the marketplace, Ingraham said. The Army also operates a C-UAS Marketplace developed and operated by the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) for digital procurement of counter-drone systems.The initiative comes in response to a rapidly evolving drone threat in which inexpensive drones have forced U.S. and allied militaries to answer with expensive missiles, Ingraham said. He emphasized a collaborative approach with partners and layered drone defense, including sensors, command and control, electronic warfare, interceptors, directed energy and rapid adaptation. “There is no silver bullet,” Ingraham said. “None of us can do it alone.”The marketplace is intended to deliver validated commercial capability to U.S. and partner forces at speed. Soldiers can browse and purchase UAS equipment based on specific tactical needs, evaluate system performance data and provide operator feedback. The digital platform operates as a government-to-government framework to create a “fast lane” for foreign military sales of equipment that has been pre-vetted for cybersecurity and exportability, according to Ingraham. Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle, who attended the signing ceremony, said the drone marketplace was “connecting soldiers directly with builders and removing the bureaucratic middlemen.” Telle’s comments follow a Monday address to AUSA where he touted Army efforts to streamline acquisition. The acting secretary further emphasized that the global drone marketplace builds on the Army’s demand for open architecture systems. Telle said the Army needs to elevate open architectures beyond the tactical systems to “the strategic level,” saying the drone marketplace is a “great step forward” in sharing tactics, techniques, procedures and equipment with partners.