Vector bypasses traditional procurement by selling capability on service contracts using O&M dollars instead of procurement funding, enabling delivery in the year of execution rather than multi-year acquisition cycles. Their "modern warfare as a service" model means customers don't purchase drones as end items; they contract for training, tactical integration, product development, and drone delivery under a single service umbrella. This structure creates a legal pathway to iterate hardware without going back through requirements validation. When an attritable system gets consumed, Vector replaces it with an updated version incorporating recent battlefield innovations.
Andy Yakulis, CEO & Co-founder, shares how his team maintains rotational presence in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, with permanent personnel observing tactical employment of unmanned systems. When they identified fiber optic cable integration in Ukrainian FPV drones, they incorporated it into a US military cave navigation training contract within weeks. Vector is also proposing a contractor-maintained stockpile model where the government purchases capacity but Vector retains physical custody and refresh responsibility, maintaining battery viability and upgrading internal components as technology advances while delivering tranched quantities as needed.
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