Land Forces 2026: Australian Army prepares for UAV scale-up

The Australian Army is preparing to scale its unmanned-aircraft inventory from a diverse fleet already numbering in the low thousands, with roughly 20 Group 1 and Group 2 types under 25 kg in service or evaluation. Current systems include Insitu Integrator, SYPAQ Corvo X, Quantum Systems Vector AI, Elbit Skylark I-LEX and Black Hornet nano-UAS, reflecting a deliberately decentralized and attritable approach. The Army is also expanding sovereign supply after restricting DJI use on security grounds and using accelerated acquisition pathways for small drones. The effort is a broad force-wide expansion rather than a single procurement contract or platform selection.