Smart Shooter has secured a potentially significant expansion of its U.S. defense business after receiving a 36-month, single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for its SMASH counter-drone fire control systems. The contract, awarded by the U.S. military’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401), carries a maximum ordering ceiling of $150 million and establishes Smart Shooter as the sole supplier of the SMASH systems, training and related services covered by the agreement.
The size of the ceiling should not be confused with a firm $150 million purchase. An IDIQ contract creates a procurement framework under which individual delivery orders can be issued as requirements emerge. Actual revenue will therefore depend on the number, size and timing of orders placed during the 36-month period. Even so, a single-award vehicle of this scale gives Smart Shooter a potentially valuable position as the U.S. military expands spending on counter-unmanned aircraft systems and looks for ways to push drone defense beyond specialized air-defense units.
The contract supports JIATF-401’s Domestic Shield Program as well as operational requirements outside the United States. Its scope covers SMASH hardware, software and software updates, training and support services for missions including force protection, military base defense and counter-UAS operations. JIATF-401 coordinates counter-drone activities across the U.S. military and works with other federal agencies and industry as the Pentagon attempts to accelerate deployment of systems capable of dealing with increasingly inexpensive and widely available drones.
Smart Shooter’s approach occupies an interesting part of the counter-UAS market. Rather than relying on missiles, dedicated anti-aircraft guns or electronic warfare alone, SMASH turns the individual soldier’s rifle into a more capable weapon against small airborne targets. The rifle-mounted fire control system uses computer vision, artificial intelligence and target-tracking algorithms to follow a moving target and calculate a firing solution. The system synchronizes the shot with the moment the weapon is correctly aligned, while the soldier retains the decision whether to engage.
That architecture addresses one of the central economic problems of modern drone defense: the cost and availability of the interceptor. Small commercial and purpose-built attack drones can cost a fraction of traditional air-defense missiles, making repeated missile engagements economically unattractive and potentially unsustainable during high-volume attacks. A rifle-based system does not replace layered air defense, electronic warfare or dedicated counter-UAS weapons, but it can add a relatively lightweight kinetic layer for engaging small drones at shorter ranges.
SMASH also allows the rifle to retain its conventional role against ground targets, avoiding the need for every counter-drone-equipped soldier to carry a completely separate weapon system. Smart Shooter says the system can additionally connect to external sensors and battle-management systems, potentially allowing target information detected elsewhere on the battlefield to support an individual operator’s engagement.
The new award follows an earlier Smart Shooter contract with JIATF-401 announced in March 2026 and comes after a series of awards involving the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. According to the company, thousands of SMASH systems are already deployed across U.S. military services. That installed base matters because the latest IDIQ is less a demonstration of an experimental counter-drone concept than a framework for potentially scaling technology that has already entered operational service.
“Domestic Shield is about giving defenders the tools to stop small, fast-moving drones before they can harm forces, bases, and critical assets,” Smart Shooter CEO and co-founder Michal Mor said in announcing the award. Mor described the contract and its potential $150 million in future orders as a significant milestone in the company’s expansion in the U.S. defense market.
The broader opportunity extends beyond the United States. Smart Shooter says SMASH systems are deployed by defense and security forces in Israel, the UK, Germany and other NATO and allied countries, while the company maintains operations in Israel, the United States, Europe and Australia. The proliferation of inexpensive reconnaissance and attack drones has made counter-UAS capability a procurement priority across many of these markets.
For the defense industry, the Smart Shooter award also illustrates how the counter-drone market is becoming increasingly layered. High-end interceptors remain necessary against larger and more sophisticated threats, while electronic warfare can disrupt drones in environments where jamming is practical. Directed-energy systems are moving toward operational deployment as another potential low-cost-per-engagement solution. At the lowest and closest layer, however, improved small-arms fire control offers a different proposition: using weapons and ammunition already carried by troops while substantially improving their probability of hitting a small, fast-moving aerial target.
The $150 million ceiling therefore represents more than a potentially large contract for one supplier. It reflects the U.S. military’s continuing effort to make counter-drone defense a distributed capability rather than something confined to specialized air-defense systems. The amount ultimately ordered under the IDIQ remains to be seen, but the contract gives Smart Shooter a three-year vehicle through which SMASH could become a considerably larger component of U.S. force protection and base defense.