Israeli drone company Xtend has won a tender for drones issued by the IDF Ground Forces and Logistics Division, a source close to the matter has told “Globes.” The company will supply 5,000 first-person-view (FPV) assault drones at an estimated cost of NIS 3,500 per unit, making the estimated cost of the tender winning bid a relatively most NIS 20 million, including operating stations and the virtual reality glasses worn by the operators.
Xtend will supply 10-inch drones, with a payload capacity of 2.5 kilograms, which is usually enough for a small explosive charge. It is believed that these are single-use suicide attack drones intended for combat battalions, probably at the company level.
Xtend beat rivals such as Robotican, Tehiru, CopterPix, Elbit Systems and others, even though the drone it will produce is not currently in its arsenal. This is a cheap attack drone (FPV), typical of the first drones that flew about five years ago, which took down the explosive balloons launched by Hamas. The attack drones that will be supplied to the army is compared by drone industry experts to the attack drone produced by Petah Tikva-based Dronix Industries, which ultimately did not win the tender.
As previously revealed by “Globes”, the tender was criticized by drone companies because of the low price per unit, which dictates the simplest and cheapest drone model and made it economically unviable for some, as well as due to the fact that its specification contains a Chinese component, a video transmitter manufactured by a Hong Kong-based company. Initially, the Ministry of Defense Directorate of Defense R&D (DDR&D) opposed this demand, especially as it encourages the development of digital communication infrastructures for drones.
The request for Chinese equipment is apparently driven by cost considerations, even though Israeli companies know how to offer an alternative communication solution, with a higher price of tens of dollars per unit. While the US is blocking the import of Chinese equipment for national infrastructure and military equipment, the IDF has already placed an order for Chinese drones made by DJI and Autel, as Globes has previously reported.
Those who supported the terms of the tender claim that it is a one-way video component, which only transmits to the drone’s operating helmet, and that in any case it is expected to undergo a “sterilization” process by the ground forces, to block as much as possible the programming of hacking and surveillance mechanisms.
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“Too little, too late”
The tender, although it specifies a supply of 5,000 units, contains an option for supplying 5,000 additional units. This is move by the army will allow more soldiers to participate in this form of warfare, attacking the enemy using assault drones. But experts believe that this is a “too little, too late” assumption. In Ukraine, attack drones are transforming combat and helping to destroy armored and infantry forces on both sides. Ukraine has pledged to produce about 4.5 million drones by the end of the year, while Russia is expected to produce between 3 and 4 million drones.
Xtend is already well-known by the Ministry of defense. It has equipped both the IDF and the Pentagon with Scorpio attack drones and was the first company in the US to receive approval to operate an armed suicide drone. In July, the company won a tender worth $10 million to supply drone swarms to the US Department of Defense, which is expected to include the production of 1,000 Scorpio systems.
For this order, Xtend has set up a production line for these drones in Tampa, Florida. Estimates are that Xtend has outperformed companies such as Anduril, Bering and PDW in the US, among other things, because it is the only one that allows the deployment of an armed drone swarm with proven combat experience, which allows remote operation.
No response has been forthcoming to this report by Xtend and the IDF spokesperson.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on August 19, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
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