The service issued a request for information Wednesday to help the program executive office for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors and the program manager for Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) get feedback from industry and identify potential solutions.

The Army wants to mitigate the cognitive burden for commanders and boost their situational awareness.

“As the Army continues to integrate advanced technologies and expand its use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), rotary-wing, fixed-wing, and emerging platforms, traditional airspace management methods are being challenged by the growing scale, speed, and complexity of operations,” officials wrote in the RFI.

“Traditional airspace management systems often struggle to process and respond to the vast amounts of data generated during operations, limiting their ability to provide actionable insights in real time,” they added.

The proliferation of drones will make airspace management even more complicated. The Army and the other services are under pressure from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to quickly integrate more small unmanned aerial systems across the force. Hegseth issued a directive earlier this month with the aim of accelerating that process.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is also pursuing new counter-drone tools, air-and-missile defense systems, and command-and-control tech to address growing threats.

The expanding use of UAS, loitering munitions and autonomous platforms will have to be taken into account by the U.S. military’s airspace management frameworks, which must also be able to deal with the presence of large numbers of friendly, neutral and enemy players — as well as other weapon systems and adversaries’ electronic warfare capabilities, the RFI noted.

“Army airspace management must adapt to rapidly changing mission requirements, including the need for real-time deconfliction, airspace prioritization, and coordination with joint and coalition forces,” officials wrote. “Effective airspace management must account for the coordination of indirect fires, air defense systems, and other effects to ensure mission success while minimizing risk to friendly forces.”

The Army is hoping artificial intelligence tools can lend a helping hand.

“AI-enabled airspace management solutions have the potential to address these challenges by leveraging machine learning, predictive analytics, and automation to enhance situational awareness, optimize airspace allocation, and enable rapid decision-making. Such systems can analyze real-time data from multiple sources, predict airspace usage patterns, and recommend proactive measures to improve safety, efficiency, and mission effectiveness,” per the RFI.

Responses to the RFI are due Aug. 29.

The service is looking to put vendors’ technologies through their paces later this year at a Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center event.

“The Army is seeking interested industry partners to deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) for an AI-enabled airspace management solution that enhances UAS operations during JPMRC Exercise 26-01,” officials wrote. “The MVP must be operationally ready for deployment to the 25th Infantry Division by November 2025 and capable of addressing some of the unique challenges of UAS management in contested and congested environments.”

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The memo “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance,” addressed to senior Pentagon leadership, combatant commanders and directors of defense agencies, referred to uncrewed systems as “the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation.”

“Our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year. While global military drone production skyrocketed over the last three years, the previous administration deployed red tape. U.S. units are not outfitted with the lethal small drones the modern battlefield requires,” Hegseth wrote.

The directive calls for approving “hundreds” of American products for purchase by the U.S. military, arming combat units with a variety of “low-cost drones made by America’s world-leading engineers and AI experts,” and more widely integrating UAS into training exercises.

Here are some key deadlines that the SecDef laid out for Pentagon leaders:

• No later than Sept. 1, the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force must establish “deliberately screened, active-duty experimental formations purpose-built to enable rapid scaling of small UAS across the Joint Force by 2026, prioritizing initial fielding to U.S. lndo-Pacific Command units,” per the memo. “Within 30 days, the Office of Strategic Capital and Department of Government Efficiency will present options, including advance purchase commitments, direct loans, or other incentives … that accelerate the growth of the U.S. industrial base to outfit our combat units with cheap and effective U.S.-made UAS. To maximize these investments, each Military Service will establish, resource, and empower unsubordinated program offices solely focused on UAS, with an immediate priority towards small UAS. These program offices will compete to determine best practices in rapid acquisition and industry engagement with operational units. Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race. Major purchases shall favor U.S. companies, informed by Blue List ratings and strategic guidance.”
• By Jan. 1, 2026, responsibility for publication and maintenance of the Blue List of DOD-approved unmanned aerial systems, components and software will be transferred from the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to the Defense Contract Management Agency. “The Blue List will become a digital platform that will continuously update an aggregate list of all certified U AS parts and systems, those with follow-up requirements, the latest user ratings, and all vendors approved to certify UAS parts and systems for the Blue List. The DCMA and the DIU will inform and align vendors on evolving Blue List expectations and develop a ratings system to identify best-in-class systems across the Joint Force. The Blue List will be dynamic, retaining all previous component and supply chain findings, and including updated performance evaluations from testing and key lessons learned from training. The Blue List will be searchable using artificial intelligence tools,” according to the memo.
• Within 60 days, the secretaries of the military department have been tasked to identify programs that would be more cost-effective or “lethal” if replaced by drones.
• Within 90 days, the secretaries of the military departments, in consultation with the Pentagon’s research and engineering directorate, have to jointly designate “at least three national ranges, with diverse terrain (including at least one with over-water areas) for deep UAS training, with low/no inter-service cost transfer,” per the memo, which noted that units operating UAS will “access DoD grounds with abundant airspace and spectrum allocation.”
• Next year, Hegseth said he expects to see UAS capabilities integrated into “all relevant combat training, including force-on-force drone wars.” And by 2027, all major training events across the Department must integrate drones.
• By the end of 2026, “every squad” is to be equipped with “low-cost, expendable drones,” with priority going to Indo-Pacific combat units.

“Our adversaries have a head start in small UAS, but we will perform a technological leapfrog and establish small UAS domain dominance by the end of 2027. We will accomplish this urgent goal by combining the Nation’s best qualities, including risk-taking. Senior officers must set the tone. Accelerating this critical battlefield technology requires a Department of War culture,” Hegseth wrote.

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LASSO — which was a new-start program in the previous budget — is now part of the service’s Launched Effects family of systems and has been realigned under that line item in the 2026 budget.

Drone maker AeroVironment has been manufacturing Switchblade systems for the initiative. The Switchblade 600 carries high-precision optics and an anti-armor warhead. It has upwards of 40 minutes of loitering endurance, a range of 40-plus kilometers, and a “sprint speed” of 185 kilometers per hour, according to a product description from the vendor. The all-up round weighs 65 pounds.

The request for additional loitering munitions — also known as kamikaze drones or one-way attack drones because they’re designed to destroy their targets by crashing into them — in 2026 comes as officials are undertaking a new Army Transformation Initiative to modernize the force for future high-tech combat. The service is moving to divest of capabilities that are outdated and put more money into other equipment.

“The Army Transformation Initiative, or ATI, as we’ve coined it, is a strategic shift. We’re reinvesting resources to ensure our future dominance as part of the joint force,” a senior Army officials told reporters Thursday at the Pentagon during a background briefing about the budget. “We made some tough choices to shed outdated systems and programs that no longer meet our demands of the modern battlefield,” including divesting from legacy anti-tank missiles, they noted.

Kamikaze drones have played a major role in the Ukraine-Russia war, and U.S. military leaders are taking lessons from that conflict as the seek to modernize their forces.

The Army is aiming to deliver five brigade combat teams-worth of loitering munitions in fiscal 2026. The budget request includes about $68 million for 98 fire control units, 294 all-up rounds and other program elements under LASSO. Nearly $13 million in reconciliation funding would procure an additional 19 LASSO production systems.

“Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs) lack adequate proportional organic capabilities at echelon to apply immediate, point, long range, and direct fire effects to destroy tanks, light armored vehicles, hardened targets, defilade, and personnel targets, while producing minimal collateral damage in complex terrain in all environmental conditions,” officials wrote in budget justification documents.

Army leadership wants to give troops new kamikaze drones to fill that capability gap.

The man-portable LASSO is a day/night capable, lightweight, unmanned aerial anti-tank weapon that includes an all-up round and fire control system, according to an Army description of the technology.

“The LASSO range requirement is to fly less than or equal to 20km (straight line with auxiliary antenna) with a flight endurance that enables the Soldier to make multiple orbits within the IBCT typically assigned battlespace, to acquire and attack targets within and beyond current crew served and small arms fire. The range/endurance enables the unit to utilize reach back capability and maximize standoff. Unlike existing direct and indirect fire weapon systems, LASSO’s discreet payload and unique capability delivers Soldiers the ability to abort against targets in a dynamic situation (e.g., use of human shields) or prosecute targets that would have been deemed non-viable in past due to the higher collateral damage associated with alternative munitions,” according to budget documents. Follow-on increments are expected to support capabilities for company and below echelons, focusing on increased range, enhanced lethality and advanced payload options.

Officials noted that the program is aligned with ATI and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s directive for Army transformation and acquisition reform.

It’s also intended to support the Army’s transforming-in-contact initiative — an effort spearheaded by Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George with a particular focus on unmanned aerial systems, counter-UAS and electronic warfare capabilities — and expand prepositioned stocks in the Indo-Pacific region, where the U.S. military is concerned about a potential future conflict with China.

The LASSO program will use other transaction authority for contracting, which is intended to cut through bureaucratic red tape and help the military field new technologies faster than traditional acquisition processes. Officials also intend to award up to four hardware contracts to modernize the industrial base and generate domestic ammunition stockpiles, according to budget documents.

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Gen. Christopher Cavoli, who is dual-hatted as the Eucom chief and Supreme Allied Commander Europe for NATO, gave lawmakers an update on the war and the current battlefield situation Thursday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“The scale of this conflict is just awe-inspiring. Thousands of tanks destroyed on both sides,” Cavoli said.

At the start of the full-scale war in February 2022, Russia had about 13,000 tanks on active status and in storage, according to Cavoli.

“They’re starting to approach near the end of … the useful tanks in storage. So, depending on how much more they lose, that will really determine how quickly they can regenerate,” he told lawmakers.

“Russian ground forces in Ukraine have lost an estimated 3,000 tanks, 9,000 armored vehicles, 13,000 artillery systems, and over 400 air defense systems in the past year,” Cavoli said in a written statement to the committee.

However, Moscow is on pace to replace those losses, he added, noting that it has expanded its industrial production, opened new manufacturing facilities, and converted commercial production lines for military purposes.

“As a result, the Russian defense industrial base is expected to roll out 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armored vehicles, and 200 Iskander ballistic and cruise missiles this year. (Comparatively, the United States only produces about 135 tanks per year and no longer produces new Bradley Fighting Vehicles.) Additionally, we anticipate Russia to produce 250,000 artillery shells per month, which puts it on track to build a stockpile three times greater than the United States and Europe combined,” Cavoli wrote.

Cavoli did not provide comparative figures for Ukraine’s equipment losses and weapons production.

Moscow’s production capability for some items, such as artillery shells and cruise missiles, has expanded “tremendously,” and it’s building one-way attack drones “in prodigious numbers,” he told senators, noting that Russian ground forces are integrating reconnaissance and kamikaze drones into their offensive operations on the battlefield.

Ukraine has used a variety of weapons — including unmanned aerial systems, artillery and Javelin missiles, among others — to destroy Russian tanks and other equipment.

Cavoli noted that both sides in the conflict are also conducting long-range attacks, with the Russians deploying cruise missiles and glide bombs and the Ukrainians relying mainly on one-way attack drones.

Ukraine is also using “some indigenously produced cruise missile systems — one in particular that I’ve got in mind that we can talk about in closed session,” Cavoli told SASC members.

The U.S. has provided large quantities of UAS — including kamikaze drones such as Switchblades and the Phoenix Ghost family of systems — to Kyiv since the war began to help it counter Russia’s invasion.

However, Ukraine’s defense industry has ramped up and is producing many of its own munitions.

“I would say they’re the world leaders in one-attack drone technology,” Cavoli told lawmakers.

President Donald Trump, noting the heavy losses on both sides of the conflict, has been pressuring Ukraine to reach a peace deal with Russia.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military is learning lessons from the war.

Cavoli mentioned the Army’s transforming-in-contact initiative — which is focused on modernizing the force with UAS, counter-UAS and electronic warfare — as an example of how the Defense Department is shaking things up based on what officials are seeing in Europe.

“Our use of drones has changed deeply across the joint force. Before this conflict, in the U.S. Army, for example, we had very few [UAS], but large drones associated with large units. Now we’re proliferating smaller drones to smaller units and having a larger number of drones in lower and lower hands. Fundamental change in the way where we’re doing business,” he said.

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U.S.-based drone companies AeroVironment and Dragoon, as well as U.S.-based software firms Swan and Auterion, were chosen to compete in the project called Artemis, DIU said in a news release. Notably, the two software companies are each partnering with separate unnamed Ukrainian drone manufacturers.

DIU initiated Artemis in response to a congressional mandate, which directed operational testing of low-cost loitering munitions that can fly in electromagnetic contested environments and be deployed in large numbers. The unit wants to have a successful prototype by the end of fiscal 2025.

“We are excited about the non-traditional companies who are providing low-cost, adaptable, long-range, UAS platforms with the potential to maximize operational flexibility for the Joint force,” Trent Emeneker, DIU’s Artemis program manager and contractor, said in a statement. “This was the intent of Congress’ direction to rethink how to get capabilities to the warfighter at speed and scale that can deliver much faster than traditional Programs of Record.”

After releasing a solicitation in October 2024, DIU and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment evaluated 165 proposals from vendors, held flight demonstrations and then down-selected to four industry teams, according to DIU.

With contracts in place, “the next step is meeting an aggressive testing and integration schedule to complete prototyping and demonstrate success by the end of May 2025,” DIU stated in a release.

The solicitation called for one-way, ground-launched drones from commercial vendors with an operational range of 50 to 300 kilometers or more. DIU wants Artemis prototypes that can carry a 10-plus kilogram payload more than 50 kilometers, and are “capable of supporting high-speed, low-altitude, beyond line of sight flight operations in [disrupted, disconnected, intermittent, and low-bandwidth] environments,” according to the RFP. Ideally, the organization would like the drones to be able to carry a 25-plus kilogram payload upwards of 300 kilometers.

Officials emphasized the Artemis program is directly linked to emerging trends on modern battlefields. Throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, inexpensive kamikaze drones from commercial vendors have provided warfighters on both sides with key capabilities. In the Middle East, Iranian-backed Houthis launched multiple complex attacks on U.S. Naval forces stationed in the Red Sea last year, as well.

“With Artemis, DIU and A&S are moving rapidly to provide an option for Services and Combatant Commands to choose from, delivered years in advance of current Program of Record timeframes,” DIU stated in a release.

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The Biden administration has committed more than $65 billion worth of security assistance to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly three years ago, including thousands of UAS platforms via presidential drawdown authority and USAI funds.

As Joe Biden’s presidency nears its end and President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office next week, DefenseScoop has compiled a rundown of the various drones that Washington has acknowledged committing to Ukraine thus far.

Phoenix Ghost family of systems

In the early months of the war, the Pentagon made headlines when it announced that it was sending secretive “Phoenix Ghost” systems to Ukraine. For a long time, U.S. defense officials were tight-lipped about the capability, which is a kamikaze drone, or loitering munition, that attacks its target by crashing into it. Its development was overseen by the Air Force’s Big Safari office — which works on special projects — in partnership with AEVEX Aerospace.

In October 2024, AEVEX revealed that Phoenix Ghost is a family of systems, not a single drone model.

One of them is a loitering munition called Dominator, a Group 3 UAS (the Pentagon characterizes drones by groups on a scale of 1-5, based on size and other factors, with Group 1 on the smaller end and Group 5 on the larger end) with 5-plus hours of endurance, a range of about 500 kilometers, a top speed of 55-plus knots, and a 37-pound frag or penetrator payload capacity. The system is 5 feet long with a 15-foot wingspan and weighs about 100 pounds with a gas engine. It can be launched and recovered from a short runway or pneumatically, and operate in GPS-denied environments, according to the manufacturer.

The system can also perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), communications relay, “full spectrum” electronic warfare and cyber missions, the company says.

Other platforms in the Phoenix Ghost family include the Disruptor — a Group 3 drone with a configuration-dependent range of 600 to 1,150 kilometers, that uses a pneumatic launcher or rocket-assisted take-off and can carry a 50-pound payload — and the Group 2 Atlas, which has a couple hours of endurance, 50-plus knot top speed, and 120-plus kilometer range with an 8-pound payload, according to AEVEX.

The vendor’s loitering munitions “achieve autonomous flight through algorithms and sensor fusion, enabling them to navigate, make decisions, and complete missions without direct intervention,” according to a company website, which noted that the platforms use visual-based navigation to “autonomously identify and follow landmarks or features in their environment, enabling precise positioning and pathfinding without reliance on GPS.”

Switchblades

The Switchblade 600 is a kamikaze drone that has a 40-plus kilometer range, 40-plus minutes of endurance, a “sprint speed” of 115 miles per hour, and can carry an anti-armor warhead, according to manufacturer AeroVironment. The all-up round weighs about 65 pounds.

“Equipped with … high-resolution EO/IR gimbaled sensors and advanced precision flight control, Switchblade 600 empowers the warfighter with quick and easy deployment via tube-launch, and the capability to fly, track and engage non-line-of-sight targets and armored vehicles with precision lethal effects without the need for external ISR or fires assets,” per the product description. “Patented wave-off and recommit capability allows operators to abort the mission at any time and then re-engage either the same or other targets multiple times based on operator command.”

The tube-launched Switchblade 300 Block 20, meanwhile, can be deployed in less than 2 minutes and has a range of 30 kilometers, upwards of 20 minutes of endurance, and a “sprint speed” of 100 kilometers per hour. The all-up round weighs only about 7 pounds, according to the vendor.

“Cursor-on-target GPS coordinates provide situational awareness, information collection, targeting and feature/object recognition, that together deliver the actionable intelligence and precision firepower needed to achieve mission success across multiple domains,” per a product description.

Altius-600

The Altius-600, originally built by AREA-I — which was acquired by Anduril — is a tube-launched drone that weighs up to 27 pounds, has an endurance of up to four hours, and can be deployed from ground vehicles, aircraft and other platforms. It’s able to carry mission-specific payload configurations that can contribute to ISR, electronic warfare, counter-UAS or “kinetic” engagement, according to a product description.

The platform’s autonomous capabilities allow one operator to control multiple assets, according to the Anduril.

“Altius-600 launches from a variety of platforms and altitudes, providing increased capabilities to any mothership,” per a product description.

Jump 20

The JUMP 20 is a Group 3, fixed wing, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platform that can provide advanced multi-sensor ISR capabilities, according to manufacturer AeroVironment.

The drone has 13-plus hours of endurance, a range of 115 miles, and a payload capacity of up to 30 pounds, according to the company.

“Runway independent, the system can be set up and operational in less than 60 minutes without the need for launch or recovery equipment,” per a product description.

Black Hornet

Black Hornet nano drones and their ISR capabilities provide dismounted soldiers with “covert situational awareness,” according to manufacturer Teledyne FLIR.

The “extremely light, nearly silent” pocket-sized systems transmit live video and HD still images back to their operators, according to a product description.

Scan Eagle

Scan Eagle is a long-endurance ISR platform that’s launched by a catapult. The Group 2 UAS can operate at altitudes up to 19,500 feet and has an endurance of about 18 hours. It has a maximum payload weight of 11 pounds, according to manufacturer Insitu, which is owned by Boeing.

“Field-swappable payloads can be rapidly reconfigured to support a wide range of missions—electronic warfare, ISR, comms relay, overwatch and targeting,” per a product description.

Penguin

Edge Autonomy makes multiple variants of the Penguin long-endurance UAS, which can be tailored for different configurations.

The catapult-launched Penguin C Mk2 has an endurance of 20-plus hours, a 180-kilometer range, and a flight ceiling of 13,000 feet, according to the manufacturer.

“A crew of two can operate the Penguin C Mk2 and all the necessary equipment, including the pneumatic launcher. The whole system is packed in several ruggedized containers and weighs up to 265 kg (585 lb), all of which can be transported in a single minivan, pickup, or helicopter and assembled in under an hour,” according to a product description.

There’s also a VTOL variant of the Penguin C — which has 12-plus hours of endurance — and another system known as Penguin B.

The Pentagon has not identified which variant was sent to Ukraine.

Raven

The hand-launched Raven has a range of 10 kilometers, upwards of 75 minutes of endurance, is 3 feet long and weighs less than 5 pounds. It can be operated manually or programmed for autonomous navigation, according to maker AeroVironment.

The system “is ideal for low-altitude intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions that depend on rapid deployment,” per a product description. “Lightweight and simple to operate, the Raven is rucksack portable and can be hand-launched for day or night observation. The Raven has an optional stabilized gimbaled payload and delivers real-time color and/or infrared imagery to the ground control and remote viewing stations.”

Puma

Puma small UAS, manufactured by AeroVironment, can be hand launched and it’s designed to perform ISR missions.

The Puma 3 AE, a Group 1 drone, has a 20-kilometer link range, is less than 5 feet in length, weighs about 15 pounds, and has up to 3 hours of endurance, according to the company

The system “features a reinforced airframe with an optional under wing transit bay for secondary payloads and third-party applications,” per a product description. “Available kits and accessories expand the operational capabilities by providing vertical take-off and landing in constrained area operations and GPS-denied navigation in contested environments.”

The Puma LE, a Group 2 drone that weighs about 23 pounds, can also be launched by hand and has up to 6.5 hours of endurance. The system is about 7 feet long, according to AeroVironment.

The drones have a 60-kilometer range when assisted by the company’s long-range tracking antenna.

DOD has not disclosed which variant was committed to Ukraine.

Cyberlux K8

CyberLux does not provide images or specs about the K8 on its main UAS product page.

“Lightweight and man-portable, Cyberlux UAS solutions are capable of beyond line-of-sight engagements that are enabled by first-person view (FPV) command and control. Military customers have options including the integration with Battle Management Systems (BMS) as well as fire-and-forget technologies substantially resistant to EW,” the company states on its website.

In a Nov. 15, 2024, shareholder update, company CEO Mark Schmidt noted that the firm has “evolved” the original K8 drones into newer configurations that are part of its “X” series, noting that the manufacturer had “ongoing activity in Ukraine working to secure additional contracts” for its UAS and other business units.

One of the vendor’s X series drones, the X-8.10, has a range of about 6 miles, a payload weight of 6 pounds, a max speed of 86 miles per hour, and an endurance of 12 minutes when carrying a payload, according to a product description.

The company did not respond to a request for K8 product info and imagery.

The Wall Street Journal published a story about the company in March 2023 that included a photo of the K8.

‘Other UAS’

The latest DOD fact sheet on Ukraine security assistance, published Jan. 9, referenced “Other UAS” on the list of equipment that’s been committed to Kyiv. Pentagon officials have not provided additional information about those platforms. The department has previously cited operational security reasons for not providing certain information about the military systems going to Ukraine.

What’s next?

It remains to be seen whether the next U.S. administration, set to take power on Jan. 20, will commit additional drones to Ukraine. President-elect Donald Trump said he aims to quickly bring an end to the war after he’s back in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has a strong industrial base for manufacturing its own UAS, and it can keep churning them out on a large scale. Other European nations have also contributed high-tech drones to Kyiv’s arsenal, and they may continue on that course even if Washington stops sending systems.

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As highlighted in the Pentagon’s latest China’s Military Power Report — a congressionally mandated, annual study that details the breadth of Beijing’s military strategies, capabilities and modernization efforts — the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) “is modernizing and indigenizing its aircraft and unmanned aerial systems, rapidly matching U.S. standards.”

During a briefing with reporters ahead of the 182-page document’s publication, a senior defense official said the reference to matching American standards is specific to China’s advancements in UAVs, rather than the PLAAF as a fighting force writ large.

“They’re definitely continuing to improve their capabilities, but we would not assess that they have caught up with or surpassed the U.S. Air Force” technologically as an armed service, the official said. “That would go beyond the judgement that we reach in the report.”

The assessment comes as organizations across the DOD work to develop and buy their own unmanned systems across multiple domains. Notably, the the Pentagon next year plans to field thousands of attritable drones of various types to counter China’s military build up in the Indo-Pacific as part of the department’s ambitious Replicator program.

China is moving forward on its “comprehensive” UAV modernization efforts, as indicated by a number of increasingly modern systems designed for operations across theater and echelon levels, according to the new report.

The nation has marked several key milestones in the last three years, such as airshow displays and operational appearances of several new systems, the document noted. Those platforms include the WZ-7 Soaring Dragon drone, as well as the new WZ-8 reconnaissance UAS and a redesigned version of the GJ-11 stealth unmanned combat air vehicle.

While the People’s Liberation Army is continuing to use its uncrewed aerial systems to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, Beijing is also expanding its employment of large drones for other operations such as “anti-submarine roles, firefighting, and weather modification,” according to the report.

At the same time, China is using industry air and trade shows to showcase its growing number of manned and unmanned systems that can be teamed together during combat.

“In these concepts, PRC developers are demonstrating an interest in additional growth beyond ISR and [electronic warfare] into air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, with substantial development efforts to produce swarming capability for operational applications,” the Pentagon report stated. “PRC researchers have disclosed the development of a future multi-domain kill-web designed to target penetrating counterair by coordinating across aircraft, sensors, and missiles.”

The Chinese government is also prioritizing the development of AI-enabled technologies for autonomous vehicles, predictive maintenance and logistics, automated target recognition and other military tools, according to the DOD.

“To actualize the level of AI integration that the PLA is envisioning, Beijing recognizes the need to leverage developments from across its commercial and academic sectors. By 2030, the PLA expects to field a range of ‘algorithmic warfare’ and ‘network-centric warfare’ capabilities operating at different levels of human-machine integration. [Chinese Communist Party] leaders believe AI and machine learning will enhance information, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities and enable a range of new defense applications, including autonomous and precision-strike weapons,” Pentagon officials wrote in the report.

“The PLA plans to use AI and machine learning to enhance missile sensors, which may make those missiles more accurate,” they added, noting that the People’s Liberation Army and other Chinese defense organizations have hosted artificial intelligence competitions and “used public purchasing platforms” to increase military access to civilian research and technologies.

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In recent days and weeks, there have been thousands of reports and tips about drone sightings in New Jersey as well as other states. Law enforcement agencies have been investigating the reports. In many cases officials believe that manned aircraft were misidentified as unmanned aerial systems. However, there have been instances of mysterious drone activity over New Jersey, including recently at two U.S. military facilities, federal officials told reporters during a background call Saturday afternoon.

“We have had confirmed sightings at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle,” a Defense Department official said on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the organizers of the briefing.

“They’re all visual, but they are by our highly trained security personnel. This is not a new issue for us. We’ve, you know, had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now. It’s something that we routinely respond to in each and every case. When reporting is cited, we have electronic means to detect and respond, and we train our security personnel to identify, categorize and then employ their equipment to deny the drone use over our bases,” the official said. “In December, we have had sightings over Picatinny and Naval Weapons Station Earle.”

The official did not disclose what specific equipment was employed in these cases or the results of the actions.

On Thursday, a public affairs official at Naval Weapons Station Earle told DefenseScoop that certain personnel based at the Naval weapons hub remain “prepared to respond to any potential risks, leveraging robust security measures and advanced detection capabilities.”

During Saturday’s call, the Defense Department official said the U.S. military wasn’t sure who the drone operators were or what their intent was.

“To date, we have no intelligence or observations that would indicate that they were aligned with a foreign actor or that they had malicious intent. But I just got to simply tell you we don’t know. We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin. We have very limited authorities when it comes to moving off base. We have to coordinate with local and as well as federal law enforcement to try and locate these persons and where they’re launching from to either cite them or, you know, execute law enforcement activities that we, you know, we are restricted from doing off base. So we simply don’t know,” the official told reporters.

The Defense Department is “significantly restricted” from conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities in the United States, they noted.

“So we don’t have the same capabilities and the same methods that we would employ in other locations outside of the homeland to determine points of origin and identify very quickly where these operators are located, and then respond to that location. We just can’t do that here in the homeland. We have to coordinate with law enforcement to try to do that, which we are doing. And we do that on a routine basis at nearly all of our locations. We have good relationships and excellent coordination, and we respond quickly to try to identify them. But the main point is to deter the activity using some of our electronic means that can respond to most of these small commercial systems and deny them access to the airspace over our bases,” the official said.

They reiterated that defense officials don’t know if the operators of the drones that appeared at the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle earlier this month had malicious or criminal intent.

“But I will tell you that it is irresponsible. And you know, here on the military side, we are just as frustrated with, you know, with the irresponsible nature of this activity,” the official said.

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DIU issued a solicitation this week “seeking commercial solutions for ground-launched, one-way UAS platforms that can operate at ranges from 50-300 km+, launch quickly and expeditiously, navigate at low altitudes, carry a variety of payloads, and operate beyond line of sight in disrupted, disconnected, intermittent and low-bandwidth (DDIL) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) denied environments.”

Such drones have become commonplace in ongoing conflicts abroad, including in Ukraine and the shipping lanes of the Red Sea, where the U.S. Navy is facing a barrage of complex attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis. The solicitation explains: “Recent conflicts have highlighted the asymmetric impact low-cost, one-way unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have on the modern battlefield.”

“The Department of Defense (DoD) must be able to employ low-cost precision effects at extended ranges,” it continues. “Reliable, affordable, and adaptable long-range UAS platforms that allow for employment at scale will maximize operational flexibility for the Joint force.”

DIU’s commercial solution offering comes as the Department of Defense, at the order of Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, has undertaken an effort known as Replicator to deter China by incentivizing and accelerating industrial production capacity and the military’s adoption of attritable, autonomous systems in multiple combat domains — through replicable processes — by mid-2025.

Earlier this week, DefenseScoop was the first to report news of the focus of Replicator 2.0 to accelerate high-volume production of technologies designed to detect, track and destroy enemy drones. However, the first capability focus area for Replicator has broadly encompassed the purchase and making of loitering munitions, and other technologies associated with what Hicks refers to as “all-domain attritable autonomous systems” (ADA2) to counter China’s anti-access/area-denial A2AD strategy.

DIU spells out in its solicitation that it’s looking for a “low-cost, ground-launched, unmanned aerial system that can carry a 10 kg payload (ideally 25+ kg) over 50 km (ideally 300+ km)” that is “capable of supporting high-speed, low-altitude, beyond line of sight flight operations in [disrupted, disconnected, intermittent, and low-bandwidth] environments.”

The unit is also prioritizing systems that have integrated mission planning software and can quickly “integrate third-party software and hardware components (including payloads) in a modular, warm-swappable manner.”

DIU will accept responses to the solicitation through Oct. 14. A DIU spokesperson told DefenseScoop that those selected to move forward will be invited to participate in a flight demo “during phase 2 of the CSO process, which usually follows between 45-60 days after the solicitation response period closes.”

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The release of a sources-sought notice Wednesday is the latest signal by the service that it wants to enhance the capabilities of the largest drone in its arsenal.

The Corps is acquiring MQ-9 long-endurance unmanned aerial systems built by General Atomics to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and to serve as a secure communications gateway and network bridge for the joint force. Officials envision the platforms exchanging data with satellites, other drones and aircraft, ships, expeditionary advanced bases, land maneuver forces, ground control stations and land-based sensors. The effort is expected to contribute to the U.S. military’s warfighting construct known as Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2).

“If you’re going to be out-sticked by the adversary, then in terms of sensing and in terms of striking, you’re of no value. You have to be able to sense at range, you have to be able to make sense of what’s happening, and you have to be able to share that data ubiquitously across the battlespace with the joint force, which is why our MQ-9 is so important,” Marine Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said at a Brookings Institution event in July.

On Wednesday, the tactical unmanned aerial systems program office (PMA-266) put out an RFI seeking industry input to identify potential solutions for a high-performance computer (HPC) to deploy on the Reaper.

“Ideally, the system, as delivered, should be ruggedized and ready to use with minimal logistics, training, and support. The system should meet the requirements to obtain an Authorization to Operate (ATO) at the Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) level. The HPC will be installed in the Centerline Avionics Bay (CAB), mounted underneath the midsection of the fuselage,” officials wrote.

Desired characteristics include a data read/write speed of 16 gigabytes per second; communications interfaces (both internal and external) to support a data transfer rate of 100 gigabytes per second; a maximum length, width, height and weight of 20 inches, 10 inches, 8 inches and 55 pounds, respectively; and a slew of other attributes related to power consumption, environmental considerations and security features.

The Corps wants a system at technology readiness level 7 or higher that can support a variety of software packages including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, PyTorch, YOLO, TensorFlow, and other open-source AI and machine learning tools, the RFI noted.

“One of the most important requirements to meet will be the security classification requirements,” officials wrote, acknowledging that those might be the most difficult for contractors to meet.

“We expect to need a Cross-Domain-Solution (CDS) and a High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptor (HAIPE) in conjunction with the HPC. Ideally, those would be embedded into the HPC enclosure but may sit outside,” they added.

Responses to the RFI are due by Nov. 24.

The Reapers that the Marines have been acquiring are 36 feet long with a 66-foot wing span, have up to 27 hours of endurance, can fly at an altitude of 50,000 feet, have a payload capacity of 3,000 pounds external and 850 pounds internal, and can fly at a true air speed of 240 knots, according to slides presented at the Modern Day Marine conference in May.

Increment one for the Corps’ so-called MUX MALE initiative is expected to include 20 MQ-9A Block 5 systems plus associated ground control stations and Sky Tower data networking and comms relay pods. At least a dozen of the drones have already been fielded.

In addition to a new high-performance computer that could be mounted on the Reaper, the service is also looking to make the uncrewed systems more difficult to detect by equipping them with a secretive high-tech pod that can counter enemy sensors.

“Some of the pods that go on our MQ-9s are classified … [so] I’ll be careful here,” Smith said in July at the Brookings Institution event, explaining that there’s a type of pod that “can mimic things that are sent to it that it detects, turn it around and send it back. So it becomes a hole, it becomes a black hole, it becomes mostly undetectable.”

DefenseScoop asked Smith if he was referring to an electronic decoy capability that makes it harder for adversaries to locate the drones.

“On the MQ-9 … without crossing classifications levels [in a public forum], it has the ability to somewhat disappear off of an enemy radar. I’ll just leave it at that,” he replied.

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