The U.S. Army is officially betting on cheaper interceptors. On June 8, 2026, Program Executive Office (PEO) Fires awarded Innovative Rocket Technologies Inc., better known as iRocket, an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract valued between $30 million and $150 million to produce guided components that turn the Army's existing Hydra-70 rocket inventory into precision drone interceptors.
Closing The Counter-Drone Cost Gap
Loitering munitions and one-way attack drones are reshaping modern combat — and the Pentagon is tired of shooting back with million-dollar effectors. The Army has been pairing its 70mm Hydra-70 unguided rockets with laser-guidance kits to bridge the gap between $150,000-plus Hellfire missiles and unguided 2.75-inch rockets. iRocket's contract industrializes that effort by mass-producing guided motor sections, fuzes and seekers compatible with stockpiled Hydra-70 motors.
The award follows a wave of Pentagon investment in scalable counter-UAS systems. In May, the Pentagon awarded Perennial Autonomy a $500 million counter-drone IDIQ and Shield AI's Hivemind was tapped to pilot the LUCAS kamikaze drone program. Earlier this month, Allen Control Systems raised $200 million to expand its Bullfrog counter-drone gun.
Factory ONE Of The Future
iRocket plans to deliver the components from a new heavily automated production facility branded "Factory ONE of the Future." Company executives have publicly targeted output of one rocket motor every five minutes, projecting up to roughly 97,000 units a year. The facility leans on industrial robotics, automated propellant casting and digital quality control — a profile the Army wants to see across its munitions industrial base.
Strategic Significance
For PEO Fires, the iRocket contract is less about a single missile and more about supply elasticity. Hydra-70 motors are some of the most widely stocked aviation rockets in the U.S. arsenal, fielded on Apache helicopters, Wolverine launchers and a growing list of ground vehicles. Bolting iRocket's guidance package onto that base provides a path to thousands of guided interceptors per month without standing up an entirely new missile line — an option the Army is also pursuing alongside robotic combat vehicles from American Rheinmetall and Harbinger for short-range air defense.
If iRocket can hit its production cadence, the company will become a major player in a counter-drone market the Department of Defense has explicitly singled out as a national-security priority for 2026.
Reporting based on coverage from Defence-Industry.eu, Defence Blog, EDR Magazine and Army Recognition.