Pentagon Taps 25 Partners for Kamikaze Drone Trial Sprint
The US Department of Defense has selected 25 companies to compete in the first phase of the Drone Dominance Program, an acquisition effort aimed at rapidly fielding low-cost, one-way attack unmanned aerial systems (UAS) at scale.
Evaluations for this stage, known as “the Gauntlet,” will begin this month through early March at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Each drone will be flown and assessed by military operators, with winning vendors to be awarded $150 million in prototype delivery orders.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin immediately after contracts are signed and will continue for five months.
New Kind of Race
According to the Pentagon, the Drone Dominance Program is designed to optimize traditional acquisition timelines by placing warfighters at the center of evaluation.
It is backed by a total investment of $1.1 billion and will run in four phases until 2027, during which the defense agency department expects to commission “hundreds of thousands” of armed, one-way UAS platforms.
The effort follows a memo from US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which called for a broader push to accelerate the adoption of small, expendable drones as the military seeks to counter the mass production of rival forces.
“Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race,” Hesgesth stated.
“We are buying what works — fast, at scale, and without bureaucratic delay. Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions.”
The Office of the Secretary of Defense sponsors the Drone Dominance Program and is executed by the Defense Innovation Unit, the Test Resource Management Center, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane Division.
