Pentagon picks 25 firms for first round of low-cost attack drone program
The Pentagon has invited 25 companies into the first phase of its Drone Dominance Program, a fast-track effort to buy low-cost one-way attack drones at scale.
The Defense Department said on Feb. 3 that the competitive evaluation, known as the “Gauntlet,” will begin on Feb. 18 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Military operators will test the systems in multiple operational scenarios during Phase I. After the trials end in early March, the department plans to issue about $150 million in prototype delivery orders, with initial deliveries starting soon after and continuing over the following months. The program is part of a broader acquisition reform push aimed at cutting procurement timelines through iterative testing, rapid prototyping and closer feedback from frontline users.
The Drone Dominance Program is structured in four phases and carries an overall budget signal of roughly $1.1 billion. Its target is to equip U.S. forces with hundreds of thousands of low-cost weaponized drones by 2027. The Phase I field includes a broad mix of companies, from early-stage unmanned systems specialists to established defense suppliers. Their capabilities span expendable attack drones, autonomy software, swarming technology and advanced guidance systems. Most of the invited firms are U.S.-based, underscoring the program’s emphasis on building domestic industrial capacity. A smaller number come from overseas markets, including Ukrainian companies with combat-tested drone experience and a participant with roots in European software and AI-enabled guidance development.
The program marks a sharper turn toward rapid, competitive military procurement. Instead of long development cycles, the Pentagon is putting operators at the center of evaluation and using short testing loops to decide who moves forward. Future Gauntlet rounds are expected to increase order volumes while driving down unit costs. If the model works, it could expand the U.S. drone manufacturing base, speed delivery of attritable air systems and reshape how the military buys uncrewed weapons for high-volume conflict.