U.S. Department of Defense recently invited 25 vendors to compete in phase one of the Drone Dominance Program.
The program is an acquisition reform effort designed to rapidly field low cost, unmanned one-way attack drones at scale as part of strengthening the arsenal.
“Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a July 2025 memorandum when commissioned an acquisition strategy to quickly supply combat units with lethal drones. “We are buying what works — fast, at scale, and without bureaucratic delay. Lethality will not be hindered by self imposed restrictions.”
The 25 companies are Anno.AI, Ascent Aerosystems, Auterion Government Solutions, Dzyne Technologies, Ewing Aerospace, Farage Precision, Firestorm Labs, General Cherry Corp., Greensight, Griffon Aerospace,Halo Aeronautics, Kratos Sre, Modalai, Napatree Technology,
Neros, Nokturnal AI, Paladin Defense Services, Performance Drone Works, Responsibly Ltd., Swarm Defense Technologies, Teal Drones, Ukrainian Defense Drones Tech Corp. Vector Defense, W S Darley & Co., and Xtend Reality.
On Feb. 18, Phase I evaluation, the Gauntlet, will begin at Fort Benning in Georgia. Military operators will fly and evaluate vendor systems. In early March, approximately $150 million in prototype delivery orders will be placed. Deliveries will continue over the following five months.