Drones on the “Blue sUAS” List Won’t Necessarily Stay There: DIU to Hold “Competitive Refresh”

An article in National Defense reports that the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the entity responsible for the development and maintenance of the Blue sUAS list, will hold a “competitive refresh” of the list later this year. 

The DIU’s Blue sUAS list is a critical certification for drone manufacturers.  The list indicates a “secure platform” suitable for use in Department of Defense (DoD) applications: and makes it easier for drone manufacturers to sell to government agencies.  (The GSA adopted the Blue sUAS as a standard, which means that drones not on the Blue sUAS list, even if they meet NDAA requirements, must go through extra steps to sell to government customers.)

Updating the Blue sUAS List

Since the inception of the program, the DIU has worked to expand their capacity to evaluate new aircraft and speed up the process: and they continue to evolve the system in response to feedback from the battlefield.  The list has expanded significantly in the last year to include more platforms.  The Blue sUAS program now also includes a framework that allows for modularity: vetting components and software for DoD use.

Now, the department plans to institute a review of the list which could remove older models.  In an interview with National Defense, DIU Blue sUAS program manager Trent Emeneker said that users in the field would provide feedback on what does – and does not – work for them.  That feedback will provide the basis for the competitive refresh of the list.

The DIU website now lists criteria for remaining on the list, and for being removed from the list.   Included in these criteria is the “continuous improvement and development of the platform, its capabilities, and components, in coordination with the Blue UAS CCB.”

“We have some platforms on the list today, some of them have been on it about four years,” Emeneker told National Defense. “In that time, they have not all evolved and remained competitive in the marketplace.”

Read more:

• Operationalizing the Defense Innovation Unit and Blue sUAS
• NDAA Compliant, US Drone Manufacturers Petition Congress to Remove Blue sUAS Requirement from GSA
• Teal 2 Makes Blue sUAS List: Red Cat and Athena Announce New AI and Computer Vision Abilities for Teal 2 Drone
• Inspired Flight Blue sUAS Clearance for Heavy Lift and Medium Lift Aircraft