The Pentagon wants low-cost attack drones built near the fight instead of shipped from distant plants, and Los Angeles robotics firm Machina will test whether that works. The company announced Nov. 6 that the Department of War selected it under the Organic Industrial Base Modernization Challenge to develop and qualify a metal airframe for a low-cost uncrewed combat attack system (LUCAS)-class drone and to deploy two pilot expeditionary robotic factories, which Machina calls Edge Factories. Machina did not disclose the award's value; Army Technology cited a Bloomberg report putting it at $9 million, and TWZ also reported a $9 million award.

Machina describes the award as the largest single award in its history. Its dedicated defense subsidiary, Machina Bellator, will lead the work, starting with development and qualification of the airframe at Machina's Los Angeles facilities. The LUCAS-class aircraft is a low-cost Class 3 unmanned aircraft system.

What the 18-Month LUCAS Edge Factory Contract Requires

TWZ reported that the contract runs 18 months and "calls for Machina to prove it can build LUCAS drones at deployed locations with its RoboCraftsman system," citing Ed Mehr, Machina's founder and CEO. The award covers a pilot, not a production buy. According to TWZ, a decision on producing the drones at scale in other locations will come later, and Mehr said a scaled deployment of 10 or more cells would take place under a new contract.

The work splits into two phases. First, Machina designs and qualifies a RoboCrafted metal airframe in Los Angeles. Then it stands up the two Edge Factories, which the company release describes as "localized, rapidly deployable production sites" meant to manufacture airframes closer to the point of need.

Mehr told TWZ that the first two Edge Factories will sit in the continental United States. The ultimate goal, he said, is to deploy them to forward locations in countries like Kuwait.

Mehr framed the award around speed. "Producing low-cost systems at scale requires a manufacturing model that can move as quickly as mission requirements change," he said in the company's announcement. "This program brings our 'build anything, anywhere' mission to life by connecting adaptable UAS design with flexible production capacity closer to the point of need."

How a RoboCraftsman Cell Forms a Drone Airframe Without Tooling

Each pilot Edge Factory centers on a containerized RoboCraftsman manufacturing cell, supported by Machina forward-deployed engineers, software and complementary production equipment. Machina says its proprietary RoboForming technology lets the factories manufacture metal structures "directly from digital geometry without dies or hard tooling" and deploy with minimal site preparation.

TWZ gave the physical dimensions: each cell measures 20 feet by 36 feet, weighs 120,000 pounds fully installed, and uses two robotic arms to form the airframe out of metal. Under this contract, each Edge Factory will hold one or two cells, and Mehr told TWZ that each cell can make a LUCAS airframe in two to five days, depending on size. He estimated that each 12-foot airframe will cost "somewhere around $15,000 to $40,000," depending on complexity.

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The company release argues that traditional aerospace manufacturing "relies on centralized factories, specialized tooling and long supply chains that can add weeks or months to production and delivery timelines," and says Edge Factories can build airframes in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional composite manufacturing. A forming cell that reads geometry from software can, in principle, switch designs without a new tooling cycle, which is the property a forward site needs.

Why the nTop Design Workflow Underpins the Pilot

The program builds on a UAS manufacturing workflow Machina developed with design-software company nTop, covering parametric design, automated engineering analysis, robotic forming and final assembly. According to the release, the teams built a parametric airframe model and ran automated structural and computational fluid dynamics analysis across dozens of design variants. As parameters changed, Machina turned updated geometry into formed metal "within days, rather than waiting through new tooling cycles that often take months or longer."

Machina says it has used the same approach to manufacture and fly a UAS demonstrator, completing the assembled structure just weeks after final design lock. Separately, TWZ reported that Machina has produced a six-foot, half-scale airframe tested at Edwards Air Force Base, and that the first design had crosswind problems. Mehr told TWZ the team moved the engine location slightly to correct it.

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The parametric approach is meant to let units tailor drones to a theater. "The concept is that we're going to bring this capability closer to the point of need, so that you can build a different requirement for let's say PACOM versus U.S. CENTCOM versus in Ukraine," Mehr told TWZ. Machina's release says range and other mission requirements can be changed in the model and produced on the same system, creating "a modular, open-architecture family of UAS rather than a production line limited to one design."

Mehr also told TWZ that Machina is not working with SpektreWorks, which designed and made the LUCAS drones previously supplied to the U.S. military.

What It Means for Contractors

This award suggests the Pentagon is funding manufacturing capacity, not just airframes, in the low-cost attack drone market. The Organic Industrial Base Modernization Challenge is funding a deployable factory concept, and the next step, according to Mehr, would be a separate contract for scaled deployment of 10 or more cells. Firms that build attack drones on fixed lines should expect competitors to pitch production that moves with the unit.

For suppliers, the model could shift demand. A forward Edge Factory still needs engines, avionics, payload integration, power and site support, and those parts must reach the cell rather than a central plant. Companies that provide expeditionary logistics, containerized power or field engineering support may find openings if these pilots mature.

The pilot also tests qualification in practice. Machina must qualify a metal airframe in Los Angeles and then stand up Edge Factories at two continental U.S. locations. If the factories prove out, program offices would gain a template for qualifying distributed production, which could lower the barrier for other advanced-manufacturing vendors seeking defense work.

Contractors tracking the effort should watch three things over the 18-month period: where the two U.S. Edge Factories land, whether the Pentagon publishes success metrics, and whether a follow-on scale contract emerges. TWZ said it had asked the Pentagon why it selected Machina and what its metrics for success are, and had not heard back at publication.

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