Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth/Image: Video screenshot
Department of War – Press Release, February 3rd, 2026
When Secretary of War Pete Hegseth took office a year ago, matching new technologies to threats was one of his core priorities. He commissioned an acquisition strategy to swiftly outfit our combat units with lethal drones.
The War Department today announced the 25 vendors invited to compete in Phase I of the Drone Dominance Program (DDP), an acquisition reform effort designed to rapidly field low-cost, unmanned, one-way attack drones at scale as part of strengthening America’s Arsenal of Freedom.
“Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wrote in his July 2025 memorandum, Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance. “We are buying what works—fast, at scale, and without bureaucratic delay. Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions.”
The Phase I evaluation—the Gauntlet—will begin 18 February at Fort Benning, where military operators will fly and evaluate vendor systems. The Gauntlet will conclude in early March, when approximately $150 million in prototype delivery orders will be placed, with deliveries beginning shortly thereafter and continuing over the following five months.
Drone Dominance operationalizes the Secretary of War’s acquisition reform priorities by sending a clear demand signal to industry—$1.1 billion over four phases, placing warfighters at the center of evaluation, and driving competitive, iterative cycles measured in months, not years. Across the program’s four phases, unit prices decrease, production volumes increase, and operational capability rises.
Photo courtesy of TRADOC (Training and Doctrine Command).
By 2027, the Department will be fielding hundreds of thousands of weaponized, one-way attack drones ready for combat.
The Drone Dominance Program is sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of War and executed by the Defense Innovation Unit, the Test Resource Management Center, and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.
The funding is ready and steady. The timeline to build combat power is compressed. The competition begins now.
The Department has invited 25 companies to Gauntlet I, listed below alphabetically.
ANNO.AI, INC.
ASCENT AEROSYSTEMS INC
AUTERION GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS INC
DZYNE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
EWING AEROSPACE LLC
FARAGE PRECISION, LLC
FIRESTORM LABS, INC.
GENERAL CHERRY CORP
GREENSIGHT INC.
GRIFFON AEROSPACE, INC.
HALO AERONAUTICS, LLC
KRATOS SRE, INC.
MODALAI, INC.
NAPATREE TECHNOLOGY LLC
NEROS, INC.
OKSI VENTURES, INC.
PALADIN DEFENSE SERVICES LLC
PERFORMANCE DRONE WORKS LLC
RESPONSIBLY LTD
SWARM DEFENSE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
TEAL DRONES INC
UKRAINIAN DEFENSE DRONES TECH CORP
VECTOR DEFENSE, INC
W S DARLEY & CO
XTEND REALITY INC.
Read more here.
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