The War Department announced on Tuesday that 25 companies will compete for $150 million in contracts to build attack drones for U.S. forces.
The vendors will demonstrate their unmanned systems at Fort Benning starting February 18. The competition marks the first phase of the Pentagon’s $1.1 billion Drone Dominance Program, which aims to field hundreds of thousands of weaponized drones by 2027.
“Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wrote in his July 2025 memorandum. “We are buying what works — fast, at scale, and without bureaucratic delay. Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions.”
The Fort Benning trials, dubbed “the Gauntlet,” will see military operators test-fly and evaluate each vendor’s drones. Winners will receive prototype delivery orders in early March, with shipments beginning soon after.
Hegseth commissioned the acquisition strategy shortly after taking office last year. The program emphasizes rapid fielding of low-cost, one-way attack drones as part of what officials call “America’s Arsenal of Freedom.”
The initiative reflects broader Pentagon efforts to streamline weapons procurement. Traditional defense programs often take years to move from concept to deployment.
By contrast, the Drone Dominance Program promises “competitive, iterative cycles measured in months, not years.” Each of the program’s four phases will feature declining unit prices and rising production volumes.
The 25 invited companies range from established defense contractors to newer entrants. The list includes Kratos SRE, Inc., Teal Drones Inc., and Ukrainian Defense Drones Tech Corp.
Several smaller firms also made the cut. Among them: Firestorm Labs, Inc., Swarm Defense Technologies, LLC, and Responsibly Ltd.
The Defense Innovation Unit will execute the program in partnership with the Test Resource Management Center and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division. Officials stress that funding is already secured through the program’s four phases.
“The funding is ready and steady,” the announcement states. “The timeline to build combat power is compressed. The competition begins now.”
