The US Department of Defense is about to order 30,000 so-called one-way attack drones. The procurement is part of the “Drone Dominance” initiative, which the Pentagon is using to strengthen the US armed forces forces with low-cost, mass deployable drones.
The contract will be awarded to the manufacturers whose systems came out on top in the recent “Gauntlet” trials at Fort Benning (Georgia). Over the past two weeks, 25 drone companies took part in the tests. Their systems were evaluated by around 100 soldiers from the US Army, Marine Corps and Special Forces under realistic combat conditions.
Among other things, the unmanned systems had to demonstrate that they could precisely attack targets at distances of up to ten kilometers. The operators were only given two hours of instruction for each system – a deliberately chosen scenario to test operability and operational readiness under realistic conditions.
“The competition ended last Sunday. In the next few days, we will announce the winners and place orders,” Travis Metz, Program Manager for Drone Dominance at the Pentagon, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. The successful manufacturers will receive orders for a total of 30,000 small disposable attack drones to be delivered to military units within the next five months.
Costs to fall significantly
For the first phase of the program, the Pentagon is currently calculating around 5,000 dollars per drone (around 4,600 euros). For the planned procurement of 30,000 systems, this results in a total volume of 150 million dollars (around 138 million euros). In the long term, however, the unit price should fall significantly – to around 2,000 dollars (around 1,840 euros) per drone.
A second test phase is already planned for August. The systems will then be tested in a much more demanding environment, including GPS and communication interference, electronic warfare and other countermeasures against drones. At the same time, the Pentagon wants to find solutions that reduce the cognitive load on the operators.
The Ministry of Defense deliberately opts for an open innovation approach. The participating companies are not given any fixed technical solutions. The aim is for both US companies and international providers to develop their own innovative approaches to solving the challenges.
Drones for every infantry group
The “Drone Dominance” initiative goes back to a memorandum issued by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in July 2025. Under the title “Unleashing US Military Drone Dominance”, Hegseth called for every infantry group in the US Army to be equipped with small disposable attack drones by the end of the 2026 financial year.
In February, the Pentagon announced the “Gauntlet” test as the first step towards implementing this project.
Ukraine as a role model for innovation
The program was generally well received in the US Senate, but there was also criticism. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal criticized the Pentagon for not working more closely with Ukrainian drone manufacturers.
Shaheen referred to her recent talks with producers in Odessa, where drones are sometimes developed every two weeks due to the experience of war.
Metz replied that several Ukrainian manufacturers took part in the “Gauntlet” trials and are now planning to build up production capacities in the USA. Some of them are also likely to be among the companies that are now receiving orders.
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