Driscoll acknowledged that he was inspired, in part, by Ukraine’s rapid response to diminished support from its allies, leading to a rapid expansion of missile and drone manufacturing startups.

“If you look at what Ukraine has done so incredibly well, it’s this innovation through necessity, and it’s innovation at the speed that is near or close to matching the commercial sector,” Driscoll said. “So what we, the Army, are trying to do is break down every single barrier that we have put up over the last 20 or 30 years.”

Major aerospace players such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, as well as arms-makers like General Dynamics, have long been the country’s go-to for defense contracts. But Hegseth’s DoD has more recently strived to increase production by incentivizing smaller companies and startups to build cheap-yet-effective weapons.

For its G-BAM Challenge, the Pentagon said it is seeking long-range precision-strike systems that can be demonstrated within 60 to 90 days and scaled into production within 12 to 18 months. Its website stated that weapons must have a target cost of less than $250,000 apiece at scale.