The US Marine Corps plans to award a contract to defense firm V2X for a new mobile counter-drone system armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, known as the Denied Area Sprinter-Hellfire (DASH) system, according to a Marine Corps contracting notice reported by The War Zone. The vehicle is based on V2X’s Tempest high-mobility platform, which has already appeared in Ukrainian service and is optimized to detect and shoot down small drones using radar-guided Longbow Hellfire missiles. The Corps intends to procure up to 50 DASH systems in 2026 to support ground-based air defense missions and protect Marines from uncrewed aerial threats. TWZ writes:
The U.S. Marine Corps says it is planning to award a sole-source contract for a new AGM-114 Hellfire missile-armed mobile counter-drone system to defense contractor V2X. This is the same firm that developed the Tempest, a high-mobility 4×4 vehicle with launchers for radar-guided Longbow Hellfires and optimized for shooting down uncrewed aerial threats. At least two Tempest vehicles are now in active service in Ukraine, where they first emerged unexpectedly earlier this month. […]
❗️The Ukrainian Air Force has adopted the American Tempest air defense system into service. It has already destroyed 21 enemy Shahed drones. pic.twitter.com/MQjDANeRtm
— MilitaryNewsUA (@front_ukrainian) January 13, 2026
Last week, Marine Corps Systems Command (MARSCORSYSCOM) quietly put out a contracting notice regarding what it is currently referring to as the Denied Area Sprinter-Hellfire (DASH) system. […]
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