War Department Announces Vendors Invited To Compete In Phase I Of The Drone Dominance Program
Department of War – Press Release
February 3, 2026
One year after taking office, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made aligning emerging technologies with modern threats a central priority. As part of that effort, he directed the development of a new acquisition strategy aimed at rapidly equipping U.S. combat units with effective, low‑cost unmanned systems.
Today, the War Department announced the 25 vendors selected to compete in Phase I of the Drone Dominance Program (DDP). The program is designed to accelerate the fielding of affordable, one‑way unmanned attack drones at scale, strengthening what the Department describes as America’s “Arsenal of Freedom.”
In his July 2025 memorandum, Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance, Secretary Hegseth emphasized the urgency behind the effort: “Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race. We are buying what works—fast, at scale, and without bureaucratic delay.”
Phase I testing, known as “The Gauntlet,” will begin February 18 at Fort Benning. Military operators will fly and assess each vendor’s system under operational conditions. The evaluation period will conclude in early March, at which point approximately $150 million in prototype delivery orders will be issued. Deliveries are expected to begin shortly after and continue over the following five months.
The Drone Dominance Program reflects a broader acquisition reform initiative intended to move at the pace of modern conflict. The Department has committed $1.1 billion across four phases of the program, with a structure designed to increase production volume, lower unit cost, and improve operational capability over time. By 2027, the Department expects to field hundreds of thousands of these unmanned systems for combat use.
The program is sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of War and executed in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit, the Test Resource Management Center, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.
According to the Department, funding is in place, timelines are compressed, and the competitive process is underway.
The following 25 companies have been invited to participate in Gauntlet I (listed 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.
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