Pentagon unveils Drone Dominance Program with ‘Gauntlets’ to rapidly expand its small UAS arsenal

The Pentagon plans to purchase more than 200,000 industry-made drones by 2027 — with forthcoming orders for 30,000 of those unmanned assets to be delivered by July 2026 — via its new Drone Dominance Program.

This initiative builds on policies and guidance that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued this summer to spark growth across the U.S. industrial base and rapidly equip the military with a trusted arsenal of cheap and lethal options for small uncrewed aerial systems.

“Every warfighter must have access to low-cost/attritable sUAS to conduct [One-Way Attack missions, or] OWA,” defense officials wrote in a request for information released Tuesday. “The Drone Dominance Program (DDP) is designed to help industry organize around the need for low-cost, supply-chain secure sUAS manufacturing at scale, urgently.”

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