US Marine Corps seeks new portable attack drone to strike tanks from 15 miles away

The U.S. Marine Corps is accelerating plans to equip frontline units with a new class of portable strike drone built for anti-armor missions. The program, called Organic Precision Fires–Medium (OPF-M), targets a growing battlefield gap: giving small, dispersed Marine teams the ability to hit armored threats at standoff distances without relying on larger platforms. Marine Corps Systems Command has opened industry outreach through a Request for White Paper, with responses due May 26, as it looks to move quickly from concept to fielding. Lightweight anti-armor drone At its core, OPF-M focuses on mobility and reach. The Marine Corps wants a system that can travel roughly 15 miles while remaining light enough for two dismounted Marines to carry. “Marines will employ OPF-M at the tactical level to enable engagement of armored targets beyond the range of direct fire weapons while minimizing collateral damage and exposure to enemy direct and indirect fires during distributed operations,” a Request for White Paper from Marine Corps Systems Command states. The drone must stay airborne for at least 20 minutes before impact. Its payload should destroy armored vehicles or at least disable their movement. The Corps has capped system weight at under 35 pounds, with the ground control unit limited to 20 pounds. These requirements reflect a shift toward expeditionary warfare, where units move fast and operate independently. Autonomy with human oversight The OPF-M design blends automated functions with operator control. The Marine Corps wants automatic target tracking, enabling the drone to follow moving targets on its own. Still, lethal decisions will remain human-controlled. OPF-M “shall be a Man in the Loop system,” the RFW specified. Operators will guide missions using pre-set or updated waypoints. The system will also allow control to transfer between different units during operations. This handoff capability supports wide-area missions without losing continuity. Such features…