:

Navy/USMC

Near Earth’s Unmanned Bell 505 Offering Picked For Marines’ Resupply Drone Development Effort

By Matthew Beinart

Thursday, April 30th, 2026

SHARE:

Near Earth’s Unmanned Bell 505 Offering Picked For Marines’ Resupply Drone Development Effort

Uncrewed Bell 505 helicopter selected as part of Near Earth Autonomy's offering for the Marine Corps' MARV-EL Inc. 2 development effort. Photo: Bell.

Near Earth Autonomy has announced its selection for the second increment of the Marine Corps’ Medium Aerial Resupply Vehicle–Expeditionary Logistics (MARV-EL) development program, with plans to work on an unmanned version of the Bell [TXT] 505 helicopter. “The program is to develop an uncrewed aerial logistics aircraft for where the risk and need are highest,” Lyle Chamberlain, Near Earth’s chief technology officer, said in a statement. "We are combining our Captain autonomy architecture with a proven Bell 505 platform to…

Budget

Hegseth Pushes For Reconciliation With At Least $350 Billion For Defense ‘Regardless’ Of Midterms Outcome

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday the Trump administration plans to continue its push for at least $350 billion in defense funds via the reconciliation process “regardless of what happens […]

Congress

Bipartisan Push in Senate to Hasten Export of 155 mm, GMLRS, HIMARS for Ukraine

A small, bipartisan group of senators is backing the Fast Tracking European Investment in Ukraine’s Defense Act, S. 5175, to hasten the export of allied buys of U.S. munitions for […]

Congress

Rep. Himes Signals Increased Contractor Oversight, if Democrats Win House

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, plans to increase the committee’s contractor oversight if the Democrats win control of the House […]

Congress

CBO Estimates Loss of One-Half to Two-Thirds of U.S. Missile Interceptors Since June Last Year

A new Congressional Budget Office report estimates the cost of the Iran war through Aug. 1 as $38 billion and says that the U.S. has likely depleted between one-half and […]