USA will develop new generation of UAVs.

Four US companies will compete for a nearly $100 million order to develop a new generation of UAVs, the Defence Department said.

A group photo of aerial demonstrators at the 2005 Naval Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Air Demo held at the Webster Field Annex of Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Pictured are (front to back, left to right) RQ-11A Raven, Evolution, Dragon Eye, NASA FLIC, Arcturus T-15, Skylark, Tern, RQ-2B Pioneer and Neptune (Picture source: US Navy)

"Textron, AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Maryland; Arcturus UAV, Rohnert Park, California; Martin UAV, Plano, Texas and L3 Technologies, Ashburn, Virginia, will compete for each order of the $99,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems," the department said in a press release on July 25.

Bids were solicited via the internet with 11 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 24, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

According to its fiscal year 2020 budget request, the US Army intends to purchase 12 UAVs in all for testing.