Tampa, Florida-based XTEND announced on September 23, 2026 that it has been selected for Phase III of the U.S. Special Operations Command Modular Kinetic Lethal Drone (MKLD) program, moving three of its XOS-powered strike drones from prototype to operational integration for special-operations forces.
Three drones in one operating system
Phase III advances the Striker, Scorpio 500 and Scorpio 1000 through the final development stage of USSOCOM's search for a modular, tiered family of one-way effects drones. All three share XTEND's proprietary XTEND Operating System (XOS), a common edge-AI control stack that lets a single operator switch between airframes and mission profiles without retraining, while integrating third-party payloads and the company's X-Strike lethality package.
Layered strike from indoor to long range
Striker is XTEND's compact single-use drone built for indoor and urban engagements, Scorpio 500 covers mid-range tactical strikes, and Scorpio 1000 extends the same XOS autonomy to long-range one-way missions with a heavier warhead. Together the trio gives special-operations teams a scalable arsenal that can be launched by dismounted operators or from vehicles, aircraft and vessels.
Stacking Phase III on Drone Dominance
The award lands on top of XTEND's earlier selection under the Department of War's $1 billion Drone Dominance Program Gauntlet II event, where the same XOS-powered platforms were down-selected for evaluation. "Phase III is an important milestone in our continued work with the U.S. Special Operations community," CEO and co-founder Aviv Shapira said in the announcement. The company recently completed its $110 million business combination with JFB Construction Holdings to list on Nasdaq as XTEND AI Robotics (ticker XTND), and the Phase III win extends the momentum from that September 4 debut.
Where MKLD fits
MKLD is USSOCOM's push to field affordable, mission-configurable kinetic drones alongside broader U.S. counter-drone efforts such as DHS's $1.5 billion counter-UAS IDIQ. The program complements loitering-munition families such as Anduril's growing autonomous portfolio by giving small units a low-cost, XOS-driven strike option that can be tailored to indoor rooms, city blocks or deep-strike targets.
Reporting based on coverage from GlobeNewswire, StockTitan and Investing.com.