U.S. Army to Secure Coyote Interceptors in First Long-Term Deal as Drone Swarms Surge.

The U.S. Army is pushing to secure a long-term supply of RTX’s Coyote interceptor to counter drone swarms at scale. The move strengthens affordable air defense capacity as drone warfare reshapes U.S. battlefield priorities.

The Army is seeking FY2027 funding for a framework agreement and multi-year contract with RTX, aiming to stabilize production of Coyote counter-UAS interceptors. Officials expect terms within roughly 90 days, marking the first structured procurement model for this class of munition. The effort reflects a broader shift toward stockpiling high-demand interceptors as operational use expands in CENTCOM and lessons from Ukraine accelerate demand for layered defenses.

Related topic: U.S. Army Tests Reusable Coyote 3NK Interceptor to Counter Drone Swarms Without Missiles.

The U.S. Army is seeking a long-term supply deal for RTX’s Coyote interceptor to strengthen affordable, layered defenses against the growing threat of drones and drone swarms, with newer variants promising greater endurance and lower cost per engagement (Picture source: Raytheon).

According to Bloomberg’s April 13 report, the Army wants FY2027 funding for both a framework agreement and a multi-year contract with RTX, with Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano saying the details could be finalized within about 90 days and noting that the arrangement would be the first such framework for a counter-drone intercept capability. The move matters because it signals that C-UAS munitions are no longer being treated as niche add-ons, but as operational necessities that must be stocked at scale.

That puts Coyote inside a broader Department of War acquisition shift already visible in 2026. The department’s new Acquisition Transformation Strategy is built around longer-term demand certainty, using seven-year framework structures to push industry to invest in facilities, tooling, and supply chains rather than wait for fragmented annual buys. The model has already been applied to PAC-3 MSE, whose framework aims to raise output from roughly 600 to 2,000 missiles a year, and to THAAD, whose planned production rise runs from 96 to 400 interceptors annually. A Coyote deal would therefore place counter-drone interceptors in the same industrial-policy category as the Pentagon’s most stressed missile-defense stocks.

Coyote fills a gap that conventional short-range air defense systems do not solve efficiently. RTX describes it as a low-cost, rail-launched missile variant using a boost rocket motor and a turbine engine for high-speed counter-UAS missions, while the Army identifies it as a ground-launched, radar-guided interceptor available in kinetic and non-kinetic forms. In Block 2 configuration, Coyote is expendable and uses a kinetic warhead to defeat drones of various sizes with precision. This matters tactically because the weapon is purpose-built for the drone problem rather than adapted from legacy anti-air missiles optimized for aircraft or larger cruise-missile-class targets.

The interceptor’s value comes from the architecture around it as much as from the munition itself. In the Army’s LIDS family, Coyote is paired with Raytheon’s KuRFS radar, a 360-degree AESA sensor operating in the Ku-band, and integrated with Northrop Grumman’s FAAD C2 and an electronic warfare suite from SRC. KuRFS is designed to detect, identify and track small airborne objects with high discrimination, including in cluttered environments where false tracks can waste time and ammunition. In effect, the Coyote shot is only the last step in a sensor-to-shooter chain built to compress detection, classification, engagement approval and kill in seconds rather than minutes.

That is why the Army has fielded both fixed and mobile LIDS variants. The fixed-site version is tailored to defend air bases, command posts, logistics hubs, ports and energy infrastructure, while the mobile configuration extends similar protection to maneuver formations and temporary operating sites. RTX says LIDS began operating in CENTCOM in 2020, and the company has repeatedly framed the system as the Army’s most robust integrated answer to Group 1-3 drones. For soldiers on a contested battlefield, this gives commanders a practical point-defense layer between electronic warfare and very high-end interceptors, exactly where the drone threat is growing fastest.

The most important technical evolution now underway is the contrast between Block 2 and the newer Block 3NK. In February 2026, RTX said the recoverable Block 3NK defeated drone swarms in a U.S. Army demonstration and showed launch, flight, intercept and recovery performance. RTX publicly describes the payload only as non-kinetic, but that alone is significant: unlike an expendable interceptor, Block 3NK can loiter, engage with minimal collateral damage, return, be serviced and go back out. In practical terms, Block 2 is the direct-action round for hard kills, while Block 3NK points toward a reusable swarm-defense model better suited to repeated raids and base-defense endurance.

The cost logic explains why the Army wants assured supply. Bloomberg reports that a Patriot interceptor used against ballistic missiles costs about $4 million per shot, while a Coyote shot is about $120,000. That does not make Coyote “cheap” in a commercial sense, but in military magazine-depth terms it is a far more sustainable answer to the routine drone raid. It allows commanders to preserve premium missiles for premium threats and reserve Coyote for the increasingly common class of one-way attack drones, larger ISR drones and limited swarms. The recoverable Block 3NK could push that cost-per-engagement lower still, which is precisely the sort of tactical economy modern air defense now demands.

Regional demand already shows how urgent that requirement has become. In March 2026, the United States notified Congress of a $2.10 billion FS-LIDS sale to the United Arab Emirates that included ten systems, 240 Coyote Block 2 All-Up-Rounds, KuMRFS radars, four-pack launchers, EO/IR cameras and FAAD C2. The justification stated the package would improve the UAE’s ability to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, underscoring that Washington now sees layered counter-drone defense as indispensable for protecting key fixed sites under Iranian-style drone pressure. The same architecture is now driving U.S. Army demand.

What makes the new deal strategically important is that it connects tactical necessity to industrial policy. The Army already awarded RTX $75 million in January 2024 for 600 Coyote 2C interceptors under rapid acquisition authority, explicitly to meet growing counter-UAS demand. The next step is not another urgent buy, but a durable production framework that lets RTX and its suppliers build capacity with confidence. That approach mirrors other 2026 framework agreements across the missile sector and aligns with RTX’s own statement that longer-term deals allow investment decisions on workforce, facilities and production acceleration. It also aligns with the FY2027 budget signal: Army RDT&E documents show counter-UAS development rising to $359.2 million from $140.4 million, with Golden Dome for America activities explicitly identified in the same budget structure.

The real takeaway is that Coyote is no longer just a useful C-UAS effector. It is becoming part of the Army’s critical munition base, because the battlefield has made drone interception a daily consumption problem rather than an occasional specialty mission. The future force will need layered defenses in which KuRFS-class sensing, FAAD C2 battle management, electronic attack and Coyote-family effectors operate as one kill web, not as isolated products. A long-term RTX agreement would help turn that requirement into sustained combat power, while the emergence of Block 3NK suggests the next phase of U.S. counter-drone defense will be judged not only by whether it can kill drones, but by whether it can do so repeatedly, cheaply and at the tempo of modern warfare.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.