Both variants share the same airframe, controller, and integration with Anduril's Lattice software platform, which the company markets as an AI layer that fuses sensor data and automates parts of the targeting workflow across its product line.⁴ Anduril positions Bolt-M as a rifle-squad-level precision-strike tool intended to push guided-munition capability below the level where it has traditionally sat, rather than as a replacement for artillery or close air support.⁶

Bolt-M is a quadcopter, not a fixed-wing or tube-launched design: it takes off and lands vertically and is described by Anduril and independent trade press as unpackable and flight-ready in under five minutes.^1,4 Reported system weight is given as roughly 12-15 lb (about 5.4-6.8 kg) across company and trade-press sources, with the unarmed Bolt sitting at the lighter end of that band and Bolt-M, carrying its warhead, at the heavier end.^3,4 Flight endurance is consistently reported at about 40 minutes for Bolt-M (45 minutes for the unarmed Bolt), with a maximum range in the 20 km class, cited variously as "12 miles" or "12.4-12.5 miles" in different write-ups of the same figure.^1,3,4

The munition carries a warhead of up to 3 lb (about 1.4 kg), developed with North Carolina-based Kraken Kinetics, with field-swappable heads intended for anti-personnel, anti-materiel, anti-armor, or inert-training use.^3,4,5 Anduril's own OPF-L contract announcement in January 2026 described the same payload range.⁶ The system uses a tool-free, hot-swappable battery that Anduril says can be changed in under ten seconds, and an EO/IR sensor supports day and night operation.^3,5

Targeting and flight control run on a tactical build of Anduril's Lattice software, operated from a touchscreen controller. Anduril describes the operator's role as reducing to four decisions — where to look, what to follow, how to engage, and when to strike — after which onboard AI/ML software handles waypoint navigation, target tracking, and the terminal attack run autonomously, including an approximately 80-degree dive profile demonstrated in company footage.^4,5,9 Anduril's head of strategy, Chris Brose, said at the October 2024 unveiling that the same airframe and software approach was intended to extend beyond ground targets toward "counter-maritime" and "counter-air" applications, though no such non-ground use has been publicly confirmed for Bolt-M as of this writing.²

Anduril unveiled Bolt and Bolt-M together on 10 October 2024, positioning Bolt-M for the U.S. Marine Corps' OPF-L program, which seeks to give infantry rifle squads and platoons an organic, beyond-line-of-sight precision-strike capability without waiting on higher-echelon fire support.^1,2,6 At the time of the unveiling, Bolt-M was already under an existing OPF-L contract vehicle reported to carry a ceiling of up to $249 million and a floor of about $6.5 million, per an April 2024 Pentagon notice — meaning the October reveal followed, rather than preceded, initial government commitment to the program.² AeroVironment and Teledyne FLIR Defense were named as competing vendors pursuing the same OPF-L requirement.^2,7

Between the 2024 unveiling and early 2026, the Marine Corps evaluated more than 250 Bolt-M systems across roughly 13 months of testing, assessing safety, environmental durability, and mission reliability over hundreds of flights.^6,7 In January 2026, the Marine Corps awarded Anduril a production contract worth $23.9 million for more than 600 Bolt-M systems plus associated ground-control and support equipment, with deliveries scheduled from February 2026 through April 2027 and initial fielding to Marine units expected in summer 2026.^6,7,8 Anduril has stated it is targeting production of more than 100 Bolt-family systems per month, scaling toward 175 or more per month later in 2026.⁷

No confirmed combat use of Bolt-M has been independently documented as of mid-2026. Trade press has reported that, alongside the roughly 250 units delivered to the Marine Corps during the OPF-L test phase, Anduril produced additional systems — reportedly 300 or more — for what the company described only as an "unnamed customer."⁹ Some defense-industry outlets have speculated this customer could be Ukraine, citing Anduril's existing relationship supplying that country with its separate ALTIUS loitering munitions under the U.S. Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, and a reference by an Anduril general manager to feedback from "other users of modern conflicts" during Bolt-M's development.^9,10

The United States Marine Corps is Bolt-M's only publicly confirmed operator, under the January 2026 OPF-L production contract, with fielding to Marine units expected to begin in summer 2026.^6,7 No other government has publicly confirmed procurement of Bolt-M specifically as of this writing; reports of a second, unnamed customer from the test phase remain unverified, as noted above.⁹

Within Anduril's own catalogue, Bolt-M sits well below the company's larger tube-launched ALTIUS-700M: Bolt-M's roughly 20 km range and 40-minute endurance are a fraction of ALTIUS-700M's reported 160 km range and 75-minute endurance, and Bolt-M's roughly 1.4 kg warhead is far smaller than ALTIUS-700M's 15 kg payload built for anti-armor use.¹¹ The trade-off is deployability: Bolt-M is a backpack-carried quadcopter usable by a small dismounted team in minutes, while ALTIUS-700M is a heavier, tube-launched system typically released from ground, sea, or aircraft platforms.¹¹ The two occupy different rungs of the same company's product ladder rather than competing for the same mission.

Against AeroVironment's Switchblade 600, a tube-launched anti-armor munition built around a Javelin-derived warhead, Bolt-M again trades reach and effect for portability and reusable-style handling: Switchblade 600 is reported to reach targets 40 km or more away with a similar roughly 40-minute endurance, but carries a considerably larger anti-armor warhead and is typically quoted in open sources around $70,000-$90,000 per round, well above Bolt-M's roughly $39,800 implied average unit cost.^10,13 Bolt-M's closer analogue on price and size is AeroVironment's smaller Switchblade 300, a roughly 2.5 kg, tube-launched munition with about 30 km range that has been quoted at roughly $53,000-$58,000 per round in recent U.S. budget and press figures — still above Bolt-M's implied cost despite a smaller warhead, a gap Anduril has used to argue for Bolt-M's cost-effectiveness.^3,14

MASS Assessment

MASS scoring evaluates Bolt-M across ten components tied to its disclosed specifications rather than a single blended figure — and two of its most striking results, cost-effectiveness and portability, pull in opposite directions for a reason worth explaining.

Portability (90) is the standout: at roughly 6.35 kg (a reported 12-15 lb band across sources), Bolt-M is among the lightest systems in this entire batch, built to be unpacked and flown by a small dismounted team in minutes. Technology (85), autonomy (80), and precision (80) reflect Anduril's Lattice software stack — AI-assisted autonomous tracking and terminal attack managed from a touchscreen — a more sophisticated guidance approach than most tactical loitering munitions in this batch use.

Range (10) and loiter endurance (20) are Bolt-M's weakest components, and by a wide margin: a roughly 20 km range and 40-minute endurance are the shortest of any weapon in this batch, well behind Anduril's own larger ALTIUS-700M (160 km, 75 minutes) — a deliberate trade Anduril made for the sake of Bolt-M's portability. Lethality (60) reflects a modest 1.4 kg field-swappable warhead, smaller than most of this batch's peers, offset partly by the flexibility of switching between anti-personnel, anti-materiel, anti-armor, and training payloads on the same airframe.

Cost-effectiveness (40), the component score, should not be confused with this archive's separate 88/100 overall price-performance rating shown in the sidebar — they measure different things. The component score weighs Bolt-M's roughly $39,800 average unit cost (derived from a $23.9 million, 600-unit USMC contract) against mass-produced tactical drones that cost a fraction of that; by that yardstick, Bolt-M is a premium system. The separate price-performance rating instead asks how much AI-assisted capability and portability that price buys relative to similarly sophisticated rivals — and by that measure, Bolt-M compares favorably. Sensors (70) and counter-measure resistance (50) reflect solid but not fully disclosed EO/IR and anti-jam specifics; no satellite-link or hardened-datalink details were found in public sourcing.

What is the Anduril Bolt-M? Bolt-M is a small, backpack-portable VTOL quadcopter loitering munition built by Anduril Industries for the U.S. Marine Corps' Organic Precision Fires-Light program. It is the armed, munition variant of Anduril's Bolt family; the baseline Bolt is an unarmed reconnaissance and search-and-rescue drone.^1,4

What are the Bolt-M specifications? Reported figures are a system weight of roughly 12-15 lb (5.4-6.8 kg), about 40 minutes of endurance, a range in the 20 km class, and a field-swappable warhead of up to 3 lb (about 1.4 kg) developed with Kraken Kinetics.^1,3,4

How much does Bolt-M cost? Anduril has not published an official per-unit price, describing costs as "in the low tens of thousands of dollars" depending on configuration. Dividing the Marine Corps' $23.9 million, 600-plus-unit January 2026 contract implies an average of roughly $39,800 per system, though that figure includes ground-control and support equipment, not the airframe alone.^3,6

Is Bolt-M in service? The U.S. Marine Corps is the only confirmed operator, with a production contract awarded in January 2026, deliveries running from February 2026 through April 2027, and initial unit fielding expected in summer 2026.^6,7

Has Bolt-M been used in combat, including in Ukraine? No independently confirmed combat use has been reported as of mid-2026. Speculation that some Bolt-M units reached Ukraine is explicitly labeled unconfirmed by the outlet that raised it, and should not be confused with a separate, confirmed UK-brokered 2025 deal supplying Ukraine with Anduril's larger ALTIUS munitions.^9,12