The Air Force’s hunt for a Reaper successor tells you everything about where cleared talent needs to focus in the next three years. The MQ-9A performed well in Operation Epic Fury—the Chief of Staff called it the MVP—but the service lost airframes, the production line shut down last year, and the cost per tail can hit $50 million depending on sensors. That’s not sustainable in a high-attrition fight, so the Air Force partnered with DIU on the Massed Modular Aircraft effort: attritable, modular platforms you can build fast and lose without breaking the budget. They want prototype flight tests within 21 months of award and initial operating capability by fiscal 2031.
If you’re running engineering, autonomy, or program leadership in the ISR or unmanned space, this is your lane. The service is borrowing hard from Collaborative Combat Aircraft—open architecture, the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture, concept refinement with multiple performers, and a real push to bring in nontraditional firms alongside the primes. They closed the DIU solicitation in July and plan to kick off concept refinement in the first quarter of fiscal 2027. The requirements are broad on purpose: at least 2,800 pounds of payload, 2,300-nautical-mile combat radius, modular design so you can swap sensors for strike packages depending on the threat.
We’re already mapping this market for a handful of clients—cleared program leaders who can stand up a fast prototype cycle, autonomy engineers with AGRA experience, and acquisition executives who’ve run DIU or other transaction authority deals. If you’ve built attritable systems or led modular payload integration at scale, now’s the time to surface. The Reaper’s not going away tomorrow, but the Air Force is making it clear: the future belongs to platforms you can afford to lose.