Most of those competing are US-based small businesses. 

The US Department of War (DoW) announced the 25 companies set to participate in the first phase of its USD1.1 billion Drone Dominance Program (DDP), dubbed the ‘Gauntlet’, on 3 February. 

Each participating company will put forth their low-cost one-way attack drones, to be tested and evaluated by warfighters in iterative development spirals, with the DoW judging each model on their effectiveness, scalability, and cost. 

DSEI Gateway understands that at least 15 of the 25 companies are small businesses, with the majority being US companies.  

Two notable exceptions include the Ukrainian Defense Drones Tech Corp and General Cherry Corp, both purportedly from Ukraine. 

The Gauntlet commences on 18 February and will continue until early March, during which military operators will fly and operate the systems, providing feedback and evaluation.  

Following this, around USD150 million worth of prototype contracts are placed, with deliveries commencing shortly after and continuing for five months. 

Latter stages of the DDP (four stages in total) will see further investments in low-cost, scalable one-way attack drones, with the department looking to field hundreds of thousands of one-way attack drones by 2027.  

Over the four stages, the DoW hopes to ensure that unit prices decrease, volumes increase, and total capability improves. 

The DDP is a key component in the DoW’s acquisition reform agenda, and follows US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth’s Unleashing US Military Drone Dominance memorandum released in July. 

As part of the memorandum, Hegseth outlined a three-part mission: 

• To bolster the US drone manufacturing base, using a mixture of public and private capital. 

• Providing warfighters with a mixture of low-cost drones, with AI companies working alongside them to integrate their capabilities. 

• Integrating new capabilities into training, stepping away from what the memorandum calls a previously risk-averse culture.