Talyn
Emissary
Soldiers from the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps got a chance to shoot down several First Person View drones with ammunition specifically made to deal with the small unmanned aircraft systems. The round breaks apart mid-flight and effectively becomes buckshot, which can make it easier to take out small, fast-moving drones.
defence-blog.com
The round’s use was first reported by Defence Blog, which noted that soldiers were photographed last week at the Oak Grove Training Center near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, testing out the 5.56mm L-variant made by Drone Round.
dronerounddefense.com
The L-variant, which the XVIII Airborne troops used at Oak Grove, splits into five slightly larger projectiles with an effective range of roughly 330 feet. The 5.56mm version exits the muzzle at 2,200 feet per second, roughly twice the velocity of a standard 12-gauge shotgun shell.
That speed and dispersion pattern address the central problem infantry units face when trying to shoot down a small drone with conventional ammunition. An FPV drone is a tiny, erratically moving target traveling at speed. Hitting it with a single 5.56mm bullet is like trying to swat a hummingbird with a chopstick.
taskandpurpose.com
The round feeds identically to standard ball ammunition through STANAG magazines or belt-fed systems. It cycles in semi-auto and full-auto, works suppressed, and requires zero modifications to the weapon. A soldier can load Drone Rounds alongside regular ammunition in the same magazine.
Available variants:
Footage shows Ukrainian operators defeating drones with Drone Round™ — the purpose-built 5.56 NATO and 7.62x51 counter-UAS cartridge that requires no weapon modifications, no new equipment, and no additional training.
U.S. Army soldiers train with anti-drone ammo designed to drop enemy FPV
Soldiers assigned to the XVIII Airborne Corps Signal Detachment conducted live-fire familiarization training with the 5.56mm L-variant Drone Round at Oak Grove Training Center in North Carolina on April 9, 2026 — putting a new class of kinetic counter-drone ammunition
The round’s use was first reported by Defence Blog, which noted that soldiers were photographed last week at the Oak Grove Training Center near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, testing out the 5.56mm L-variant made by Drone Round.
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dronerounddefense.com
The L-variant, which the XVIII Airborne troops used at Oak Grove, splits into five slightly larger projectiles with an effective range of roughly 330 feet. The 5.56mm version exits the muzzle at 2,200 feet per second, roughly twice the velocity of a standard 12-gauge shotgun shell.
That speed and dispersion pattern address the central problem infantry units face when trying to shoot down a small drone with conventional ammunition. An FPV drone is a tiny, erratically moving target traveling at speed. Hitting it with a single 5.56mm bullet is like trying to swat a hummingbird with a chopstick.
Soldiers with the XVIII Airborne Corps are training with anti-drone rounds
The round breaks apart mid-flight and effectively becomes buckshot, which can make it easier to take out small, fast-moving drones.
taskandpurpose.com
The round feeds identically to standard ball ammunition through STANAG magazines or belt-fed systems. It cycles in semi-auto and full-auto, works suppressed, and requires zero modifications to the weapon. A soldier can load Drone Rounds alongside regular ammunition in the same magazine.
Available variants:
- 5.56 K Variant — 8-projectile configuration, effective to 50 meters
- 5.56 L Variant — 5-projectile configuration, effective to 100 meters
- 7.62x51 — Releasing soon with an effective range of 300+ meters, designed to work with AWS solutions currently in use
- Muzzle velocity: ~2,200 FPS
- Platform compatibility: Standard magazines and belt-fed systems — identical cycling to standard ammunition
- Suppressor compatible: Yes
- Threat types: Radio-controlled, fiber-optic, fixed-wing, attack, and surveillance UAS
- Sourcing & manufacturing: 100% U.S.-based; up to 350 million rounds per year production capacity
- Standards compliance: SAAMI, ISO, MIL-SPEC (NATO certification pending)
Ukraine Operators Use Drone Round to Defeat UAS - The Shooting Wire | The Shooting Wire
Ukrainian operators have successfully used Drone Round, a purpose-built 5.56 NATO and 7.62x51 counter-UAS cartridge, to neutralize unmanned aerial systems in...
www.shootingwire.com
Footage shows Ukrainian operators defeating drones with Drone Round™ — the purpose-built 5.56 NATO and 7.62x51 counter-UAS cartridge that requires no weapon modifications, no new equipment, and no additional training.
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