U.S. Marines to Deploy Bolt-M Loitering Munition to Infantry Squads as Production Begins.

The U.S. Marine Corps has moved Organic Precision Fires-Light into production contracting, centered on Anduril’s Bolt-M loitering munition, with fielding set to begin in 2026. The shift marks a structural change in how Marine infantry units generate their own precision fires without waiting for higher-echelon support.

The U.S. Marine Corps has formally transitioned Organic Precision Fires-Light into production contracting, marking a decisive step toward embedding loitering munitions directly within infantry battalions. Announced on December 15, 2025 by Marine Corps Systems Command, the move signals a clear intent to equip small units with organic, beyond-line-of-sight strike capabilities once reserved for higher echelons. That shift is now crystallizing around Anduril’s Bolt-M, with reporting indicating a $23.9 million award covering more than 600 man-portable systems, associated control equipment, and support, with deliveries scheduled from February 2026 through April 2027 and operational fielding targeted for summer 2026. For the Corps, this is not a boutique experiment but a deliberate rebalancing of small-unit lethality, pushing precision effects down to squads and platoons that have historically depended on mortars, artillery, naval gunfire, or scarce air support.
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Anduril's Bolt-M is a man-portable VTOL loitering munition that gives Marines beyond-line-of-sight precision strike with modular warheads, autonomous terminal guidance, and electronic-warfare resilience (Picture source: Screenshot from Anduril video).

At the program level, OPF-L is designed to widen the commander’s menu of immediate options in the first minutes of contact. Maj. Jesse Hume, speaking for the OPF program office, framed it as an effort built on speed, acceptance of risk, and a learn fast, field faster acquisition mindset, stressing that the goal is not to replace existing systems but to complement them and give commanders more choices against evolving threats. The Marine Corps has also structured OPF-L as a competitive, multi-vendor lane, pairing Bolt-M with other loitering munitions selected for different target sets and employment styles, including AeroVironment’s Switchblade 300 Block 20 and Teledyne FLIR’s Rogue 1.

Bolt-M is noteworthy because it takes the now-common battlefield idea of a small kamikaze drone and wraps it in a Marine-proof package: vertical takeoff and landing, man-packable logistics, and an operator workflow designed to reduce training burden. Bolt-M is described as a quadcopter that can be unpacked and flown in under five minutes, with endurance of roughly 40-plus minutes and a reach in the 20 km class, giving dismounted Marines a strike envelope that extends well beyond rifle and machine gun dominance zones. In practice, that combination matters because VTOL lets the munition launch from broken terrain, tight urban cover, or the confined deck space typical of littoral operations.

Bolt-M is described as carrying up to a three-pound munition payload and supporting swappable warhead options aimed at both personnel and materiel targets, with warhead development linked publicly to Kraken Kinetics. At this weight class, the anti-personnel effect is best understood as a precision-delivered lethal radius against exposed fighters, fighting positions, and trench lines, while the anti-materiel option is intended to disable light vehicles, fielded sensors, and other vulnerable equipment nodes that keep enemy formations moving and communicating. Bolt-M’s broader value is that it allows the operator to stay on the loop long enough to confirm what the target actually is, then commit a warhead with a chosen approach geometry rather than simply flying a camera into whatever appears first.

Anduril’s software approach is central to that concept. Bolt-M is described as leveraging the company’s Lattice autonomy stack, with functions such as autonomous waypoint navigation, target-agnostic object tracking, and customizable standoff distances and engagement modalities. Defense reporting also notes a touchscreen-driven control method where the operator selects targets, desired standoff, and attack angle, while onboard autonomy manages much of the terminal work. That matters tactically in two ways: it reduces the cognitive load on the Marine who is also trying to survive, maneuver, and communicate, and it increases the probability of a clean terminal profile against moving targets.

Survivability in the electronic fight is increasingly the deciding factor for small UAS and loitering munitions. Bolt-M’s published concept leans on onboard processing and a degree of autonomy that can carry the munition through the final seconds even if the control link is degraded. The weapon can guide itself to the target even if it loses connection with the operator, and can also return if the operator aborts the strike. Safety and handling are addressed through an electronic safe and arm device cited in Anduril’s own public materials, an important detail for Marines who may be moving these munitions repeatedly in vehicles, small boats, and on foot across complex terrain.

Inside the force, Bolt-M’s most consequential role is as a squad-to-platoon precision fires tool that compresses the sensor-to-shooter timeline. The Marine Corps Systems Command has stated that OPF-L gives infantry battalions the ability to strike outside the enemy threat range and dynamically shape the fight before closing, and that two infantry battalions will receive OPF-L in early 2026 for unit-led training and operational testing. In a littoral context, a system like Bolt-M also fits the Marine Corps’ push for dispersed operations, where small units must generate their own effects when higher-echelon fires are delayed, denied, or politically constrained. Anduril has also positioned the munition as adaptable beyond pure land attack roles, aligning with Marine Corps thinking on counter-maritime and expeditionary strike missions.

The strategic reason the U.S. needs this category of armament is simple: modern battlefields have made short-range, low-cost, precision attack ubiquitous, and U.S. units cannot afford to be the only ones without organic equivalents that are militarized, supportable, and scalable. The production question is therefore as important as the flight profile. Anduril has indicated it has already increased Bolt-M output to more than 100 all-up rounds per month and is aiming higher, a data point that will matter if OPF-L evolves from battalion experiments into a fleetwide infantry staple.

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.