“We will speed up the timeline of rapid innovation. We have to, on behalf of our warfighters, on behalf of the threats that we face around the globe, on behalf of the changing face of warfare,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said.

During the “Multi-Domain Autonomous Solutions” event in the Pentagon courtyard, Hegseth and other Defense Department leaders shared new details about their near-term plans to quickly and drastically enhance the military’s drone arsenal, and deepen partnerships with producers across the sprawling American industrial base as they confront a range of contemporary policy and supply chain challenges. 

Eighteen autonomous prototypes currently under accelerated development to support joint military operations were showcased at the event, which was hosted by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. 

Some of those systems included the long-endurance unmanned aerial system with a 36-foot wingspan dubbed Vanilla and the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft, or GARC — a small unmanned surface vehicle that can deploy independently or as a swarm.

“[This is] really a whole effort to sort of adapt to the current threat environment, which has changed in the last … year. And what you see here is a response to that. And you’ll see continued iterations — we are not stopping. This is just the beginning of what a rapid program looks like, and a rapid effort looks like,” Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael told reporters.

The prototypes on display, he noted, went from concept to development in an average of 18 months.

“It’s an extraordinary achievement. This kind of thing was going to take five, six years,” Michael said.

It’s no secret that over the last half-decade, the U.S. military has increasingly faced serious challenges with buying, integrating and defending against unmanned systems. Further, while America has excelled at producing sophisticated, high-priced drones, the industrial base is struggling to compete with the proliferation of smaller and lower-cost systems being developed by China, Iran and other adversaries.

DOD leaders during the Biden administration launched the Replicator initiative in August 2023, with the overarching vision to accelerate industrial production and the military’s adoption of different drones in multiple combat domains through replicable processes by mid-2025. Future plans to continue or cancel that effort have not been revealed by Trump appointees to date.

“This is not the Replicator initiative,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Prototyping and Experimentation Alex Lovett said at the event. “The Replicator phase I tranche was looking at scaling. What we were able to do is — and you’ll see some of the platforms here were also participating in the evaluation of that — but our experimentation identified capabilities that were ready to scale for some of those.”

DOD’s new approach to “rapid prototyping experimentation,” according to Lovett, marks the institutionalization of the now defunct Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER), also set up under the Biden administration, to get new technologies in the hands of combatant command users as early as possible for testing and refinement.

“What we learned is: Yes, that is good and it is working. We don’t need a separate program telling me to go do RDER. We’ve adopted that and established [Mission Capabilities] under Mr. Michael as an entire directorate that does mission-based analysis, engineering experimentation, and operational assessment to facilitate the transition. So we’ve completely adopted that, and we’re continuing to do operational experimentation,” Lovett explained. 

Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) events were a key component of those RDER pursuits in recent years. 

For now, the T-REX live-fire exercises and prototype demonstrations are set to continue to unfold at least twice a year to help military users assess the capabilities of new and innovative technologies for use in real-world operations.

“If you’re looking for a new initiative, part of this enabling of drone dominance [per Hegseth’s guidance] is the services now are standing up, [first-person view] drone schools and drone capabilities. At this next T-REX [in August], we will be starting to host ‘Top Gun’ school. We’re going to start playing red versus blue. Their best will come after our best defenses,” Lovett told DefenseScoop at the event.

“We are [also] looking at how to expand our T-REX too, in conjunction with NASA and the [Federal Aviation Administration] and the department. So again, across the whole federal government, that says we’re working together and breaking down the barriers,” he said.

All of the drones on display Wednesday already passed through the T-REX program and are being evaluated by the services for transition and fielding.

“What we’re trying to do is lower the barriers [and] invite more people in to do experimentation if they want to — but there’ll be other kinds of things [as well],” Michael said.

In his view, President Donald Trump’s recent drone-accelerating executive orders and Hegseth’s related memorandum will help address policy constraints and open the DOD’s aperture for drones and systems to accept.

“[They] say, ‘Hey, we’re open for business. We want your inventions. We want you to be qualified on our [Blue UAS] list, and we want the services to see what you can have — so you can build it, so that they can buy it,’” Michael said.

The undersecretary declined to comment on any forthcoming plans to change or cancel the 14 critical technology areas identified under the previous administration for strategic and focused investments. 

In response to questions from DefenseScoop on that topic, Michael responded: “It’s drone day!” 

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“The Department of Defense must be able to procure, integrate, and train using low-cost, high-performing drones manufactured in the United States,” President Donald Trump wrote in the directive.

This new EO comes at a time when autonomous systems are increasingly proving to be game-changing on contemporary battlefields. Yet despite major investments, all of America’s military services are confronting serious challenges in adopting and deploying different-sized and affordable drones for widespread use.

DefenseScoop asked former defense officials and national security experts to share their analyses regarding the order, in separate conversations following its release last month.

“At first glance, the EO is directionally sound — it signals a strategic interest in accelerating the adoption of commercial unmanned aerial systems in the U.S. and reducing barriers to their use, particularly for testing and training,” Lauren Kahn, senior research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said. “That’s a positive step.”

David Rothzeid — a venture investor at Shield Capital, Air Force reservist and Defense Innovation Unit alum — echoed that sentiment, saying he views the EO “as a positive and timely move that supports both national security and the U.S. innovation ecosystem.”

“It sends a meaningful demand signal to American entrepreneurs and primes the broader market to accelerate development,” he told DefenseScoop. “That said, although the EO is well-aimed, its long-term impact will depend on execution.” 

A longtime procurement official, Rothzeid previously led acquisition pathways at DIU. He argued that the DOD at this point needs to “avoid repeating past mistakes where adversaries seized technological leads due to” slow adoption and over-classification postures at the Pentagon. 

“For example, the proliferation of Chinese-created DJI drones in both consumer and defense sectors continues to exacerbate our domestic sourcing. By failing to incubate and scale domestic alternatives earlier, we inadvertently ceded a portion of the Group 1 UAV market to foreign influence,” Rothzeid said, referring to drones on the small end of the spectrum.

Tucked into the new EO is a line that directs the department and military leadership to identify programs that hold potential to be “more cost efficient or lethal” if replaced by drones — and to submit a report to the president on their findings within 90 days of its publication.

“This is included as almost a throwaway because DOD has been doing that during its budget and strategy review,” Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told DefenseScoop.

He pointed to the Army terminating its Apache attack helicopter replacement program, noting that determination was “likely driven by a desire to use drones.”

“Other examples are the large increase in funding for the [Air Force’s] collaborative combat aircraft — a drone that would accompany manned aircraft — and endorsement of the Replicator program, which seeks to develop drone swarms and was started by the Biden administration,” Cancian said.

In Kahn’s view, that specific provision regarding recommendations on drones to replace legacy weapons “risks becoming a box-ticking exercise if services nominate programs they were already planning to retire.”

“However, if taken seriously and used to spur some of the efforts already underway in the department to accelerate the adoption of cheaper, attritable, drones and other precise mass capabilities, it could help rebalance a force still over-invested in costly, vulnerable legacy systems,” she said.

“As Ukraine and Israel have shown in recent days with Operations Spider’s Web and Rising Lion, low-cost UAS can impose asymmetric costs and scale far faster than exquisite platforms — making them strong candidates to replace select ISR, strike, or base defense assets. Still, systems shouldn’t be replaced just for the sake of it; the goal is a high-low mix where attritable drones complement, not supplant, more advanced capabilities,” Kahn told DefenseScoop.

Despite being titled “Delivering Drones to Our Warfighters,” Section 9 of the order spotlights elements that she considers more associated with airspace issues and training — and “less about breaking down challenges the department faces when it comes to acquiring, sustaining, and rapidly scaling UAS, and other emerging capabilities.”

Khan further noted that the EO “entirely overlooks” unmanned surface vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles, and other autonomous and remotely crewed systems.

Meanwhile, “a welcome provision is the push to allow all platforms on the Blue UAS list to operate on military installations without requiring policy exceptions,” she told DefenseScoop.

Managed by DIU, Blue UAS is a Pentagon program that is designed to help the department rapidly pinpoint and approve secure commercial drones for government use.

“That’s the kind of specific change that can have outsized operational impact by enabling more rapid experimentation and deployment. However, it largely emphasizes access to airspace — an essential and persistent issue, particularly when it comes to deconflicting some of the challenges of airspace above military installations that the DOD itself faces,” Khan said, adding that the directive “largely targets known, second-order problems rather than the deeper, more significant structural barriers the DOD faces when adopting UAS at scale.”

Tom Adams, director of public safety at DroneShield, also said the EO marks a step in the right direction, but suggested more needs to be done.

“[There] were some noticeable gaps in the language related to the authorities for public safety, and critical infrastructure, for example, that I believe is meant to be addressed with more formal legislation,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how Congress tackles this issue that is so crucial to the security of the homeland.”

Rothzeid also spotlighted the directive’s Blue UAS provision in his discussion with DefenseScoop. To him, it’s “critical” for DOD to expand that list and update it with newly approved industry-made capabilities more frequently. 

“There are new players with innovative UAS platforms popping up in the space all the time — and while it’s important to make sure UAS platforms are secure and compliant — being more flexible to let new vendors in will accelerate the pace of innovation by widening the number of platforms DOD can procure rapidly,” he said.

Rothzeid offered several other suggestions, beyond what was covered in Trump’s order, that could help the military more rapidly field combat-ready drone systems. 

He recommended DOD improve companies’ access to testing ranges, particularly for drones that are built or modified to withstand interference from electromagnetic sources for emergency response or other purposes.

“Startups consistently face delays and red tape when trying to test their systems in realistic electromagnetic environments. This is a critical gap, especially considering that several U.S. platforms sent to Ukraine failed due to inadequate battlefield resilience,” Rothzeid said.

He additionally urged the Trump administration to ensure that the demand signal from the new EO is supported by budget allocations in the near term to enable its implementation. 

“Ultimately, policy without procurement falls flat. If this EO is to deliver on its promise, DOD will need to match it with funding, contracting pathways, and accountability to ensure real dollars flow to companies building these next-generation systems,” Rothzeid told DefenseScoop.

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Detailed budget materials are being released on a rolling basis this week, but the officials provided insights into the nearly $1 trillion spending plan in an off-camera press briefing Thursday morning.

“This budget is the first year that we are calling out — specifically — our autonomy line in its own section. So, it will be $13.4 billion for autonomy and autonomous systems,” a senior defense official told DefenseScoop. 

“For counter [unmanned aerial systems], the total request is $3.1 billion across the services,” they also confirmed. 

The new requests for additional drone and counter-drone funding come as the U.S. military confronts serious challenges integrating and defending against the rapidly evolving weapons, which often cost much less to produce than the multimilllion-dollar missiles that have been deployed to take them down.

The senior defense official supplied a high-level breakdown on the robotics and autonomy-enabling budget lines.

“For unmanned and remotely-operated aerial vehicles, it’s $9.4 billion; autonomous ground vehicles, $210 million; on the water autonomous systems, $1.7 billion; underwater capabilities, $734 million; and enabling capabilities — that’s the autonomy software, the things that underlie all these systems, working and operating together as a central brain — it’s $1.2 billion to work across all those platforms on autonomy,” they said.

A senior Navy official at the briefing also pointed to what they consider to be a “big increase” associated with autonomy investments for the sea service.

“[It’s] $5.3 billion across all systems. And that’s $2.2 billion above FY 2025. That includes procuring three MQ-25s, which we’ll have our first flight in 2026 — and then additional unmanned air [assets], new efforts in unmanned undersea and in unmanned surface, to include procuring our medium unmanned surface vessel. So, we have a lot of efforts across all domains,” the senior Navy official told DefenseScoop.

Two aircraft carrier strike groups operating in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility are “engaged in combat every day” against enemy-launched drones, they noted.

“We have the [USS Gerald R. Ford] that is just now deploying. Ford will deploy with some additional counter-UAS capabilities, and then we’ll continue to look and learn and develop those kits that we sent before, and [applying] part of what we’re learning,” the senior Navy official said.

Representatives from the other military services did not share information about their departments’ autonomy toplines during the briefing.

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At a House Armed Services Committee posture hearing, the U.S. Central Command commander shared new details about that operation and said it underscores the military’s intensifying need for more and better counter-drone technologies and software.

“We absolutely need to be putting more work into directed energy [and] high-powered microwaves, I think, are some of the innovations that have come out of this since Operation Rough Rider. About 40% of the drones shot down were shot down by something called Advanced Precision Weapon Kill System, a laser-guided 2.75-inch rocket fired off our F-16s or F-15s. That’s a $25,000 munition going against a roughly $50,000 or $100,000 drone — that is an Iranian-provided drone,” Kurilla said.

Iran-backed Houthi fighters based in Yemen kicked off their attacks against vessels traversing crucial international shipping routes near the Red Sea in 2023. They indicated the disruption was meant as a form of protest of America’s support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Early into his second administration, President Donald Trump initiated Operation Rough Rider to dismantle Houthi infrastructure and leadership in the region. Trump announced an end to the operation in early May, following an agreement between America and the Houthis — brokered in part through the Omani government — to suspend the strikes.

Operation Rough Rider cost the U.S. an estimated $1 billion, lawmakers pointed out at the posture hearing. It also resulted in the loss of multiple high-dollar military drones and fighter aircraft. 

“The president gave us a very specific mission, which was to get the Houthis to quit shooting at American ships. Six months ago on 12 November 2024, was the last time a destroyer went through the Bab-el-Mandeb. It was attacked 17 times with anti-ship ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and [unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs]. In the last week, we put four destroyers back through the Bab-el-Mandeb,” Kurilla said.

After the conclusion of Rough Rider, however, Centcom is “still defending Israel with” its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system against ongoing assaults from the Houthis, which remain under the foreign terrorist organization designation by the U.S.

In the operation’s aftermath though, one major lesson the command learned, as Kurilla put it, is that “software is a weapon” that is rapidly changing the character of warfare.

“Our ability to do Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, the things that we are doing with software — it’s amazing. We have advanced that. We have engineers every day making improvements on our ability to do that. It’s a warfighting headquarters,” Kurilla said.

Software is also driving significant transformations in ballistic missile defense on the contemporary battlefield, the commander noted.

“The same thing, I would tell you, as it comes to counter-UAS as well. We are making changes to the Navy’s software on the SPY radars based on what we’re seeing,” Kurilla told the committee. 

When asked by lawmakers to recommend the top weapons capabilities he views they should most quickly invest in, the commander repeatedly pointed to counter-drone systems, calling them the “number one” in-demand tool at this time.

“We’re only going to see the systems get smaller, more lethal. [On] the electromagnetic spectrum, we try and jam that. That’s why Ukraine and Russia went to fiber optics — going out to 40 kilometers with fiber optic drones — you can’t jam that. So those are the things I would ask for right now, the counter-UAS [and detection capabilities]. I think we need to put aerial [Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radars or ISAR] for low-radar cross section to be able to pick up, elevate it, and then [use] ballistic missile defense,” Kurilla said. 

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“A lot of the ground units now have tactical [unmanned aerial systems, or UAS] that they might bring in,” the official said during an off-camera briefing at the Pentagon.

On the condition of anonymity, they and another top defense official took questions from the media regarding the Defense Department’s first official statement about how its components plan to rapidly respond to President Donald Trump’s executive mandates to tighten security at America’s southern border with the support of the U.S. military. 

The press briefing marked the first at the Pentagon since Trump re-entered office Monday, and it was attended by some of his administration’s first political appointees to trickle into the five-sided building. Border security was a major tenet of the president’s campaign commitments in the lead-up to this election and previously in 2016.

Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses issued a statement Wednesday revealing the department’s immediate plans for the expedited implementation of Trump’s executive orders pertaining to the border — including the employment of U.S. military forces for “directed missions.” 

U.S. Northern Command is the operational lead for this multifaceted initiative, and Transportation Command and other elements of the services have been called on to assist. Teams from the Department of Homeland Security and the National Guard Bureau are also working in partnership with DOD to execute the administration’s vision.

Salesses confirmed in the statement that he officially approved the Pentagon’s plans to augment troops at the southwest border with orders for roughly 1,500 additional ground personnel, plus helicopters with associated crews, and teams of intelligence analysts to enhance “detection and monitoring” pursuits. 

Further, he announced that DOD will supply military airlift for DHS deportation flights of more than 5,000 people who were detained by Customs and Border Protection in specific California and Texas sectors. The department will also aid in constructing temporary and permanent physical barriers to help counter illicit border crossings. 

During the press briefing, the senior defense official emphasized: “This is the initial effort that we can do right away, and then we anticipate many additional missions after this. This is just the start.” 

The additional troops will consist of 1,000 soldiers and 500 Marines who are going to join about 2,500 military personnel already deployed in border operations, the senior defense official said, adding at the time of the Wednesday afternoon briefing that the first of these EO-supporting missions was expected to begin over the following 24 to 48 hours. 

According to the senior military official, the Air Force is sending C-17s and C-130s to remove the DHS-detained deportees.

“We also anticipate that there could be some additional airborne intelligence, surveillance and support assets that would move down to the border to increase situational awareness,” they said.

In response to reporters’ questions, the officials confirmed that military leaders are considering the deployment of tactical UAS to complement troops’ efforts on the ground near Mexico.

“They can provide localized intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in their particular area. Obviously, the Army’s got MQ-1s, Air Force has MQ-9s, over various times in the past provided some level of support. And then you have manned platforms that could fly in support as well. So, that is still not fully decided yet. We’re waiting to refine what the requirement is working with NorthCom on that — but we’ll let you know as soon as we’ve dubbed it out a bit,” the military official said.

Under DOD’s current drone policy, the military can perform UAS operations domestically in support of a request from federal or state civilian authorities, but only with the defense secretary’s explicit approval. 

The guidance also states that the military can only deploy armed drones in the U.S. for training, exercise, and testing purposes.

A defense spokesperson said on Wednesday that they could not immediately answer DefenseScoop’s questions regarding any potential governmentwide or DOD policy changes associated with domestic U.S. military drone flights.

NorthCom spokespersons did not respond to requests for more information by publication on Thursday.

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“Unmanned [platforms] will be a very important part of the way future wars are fought. Just the idea of survivability for human beings — to drive cost and time in ways that manned systems do not,” Hegseth said during his confirmation hearing Tuesday.

In responses to the Senate Armed Services Committee’s advanced policy questions (APQs) that were submitted to Congress ahead of that testimony, the secretary of defense nominee also made multiple statements pledging to support drone-enabling efforts across the individual military services and the joint force. 

Drones and swarms of unmanned systems are reshaping contemporary warfare and U.S. national security. Informed partly by lessons from the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as still-emerging conflicts in the Middle East, Defense Department leadership during the Biden administration launched several high-dollar efforts to accelerate production and ultimately expand the military’s arsenal of such capabilities.

As senators suggested at Tuesday’s hearing, Hegseth — a former Fox News host who retired from the National Guard in 2021 at the rank of major — is considered a controversial choice for U.S. defense secretary. He dodged multiple questions from Senate Armed Services Committee Democrats during the hearing about reports of unprofessional behavior in past work environments and Trump’s vision for the DOD, among other topics.

Still, during his testimony and in his APQ responses, Hegseth spotlighted his belief that “unmanned systems are a fundamental part of the future warfighting environment.”

At one point in the more than three-hour-long hearing, he pointed to significant challenges U.S. shipyards are confronting with manpower issues and other workforce shortfalls, and how unmanned systems could offset those.

“We also see adversaries that have been able to innovate themselves in ways that their ship-building capacity is — I won’t reveal it at this hearing — but multitudes and multitudes beyond our capabilities. So it needs to be a rapid investment, a rapid-field issue, and then we need to incentivize outside entities to fill the gap. You talk a lot about [unmanned aerial vehicles]. UAVs are very important. But there’s also a picture of UUVs — unmanned underwater vehicles — that will be a part of amplifying the impact of our Navy, because this administration has allowed our number of ships to drop below 300,” Hegseth told the committee.

In his APQ answers regarding the Navy, he said the DOD needs to “expeditiously move to integrate unmanned systems in [its] surface and undersea fleets.” 

“If confirmed, I will direct the Service Secretaries, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering to accelerate adoption and integration of cost-effective and highly capable unmanned systems to transition to the force of the future,” Hegseth wrote.

Further, if lawmakers confirm his nomination, Hegseth said he would also prioritize enhancing the Marine Corps’ ability to operate in contested littoral operation environments — “emphasizing long-range precision fires, advanced reconnaissance, and unmanned systems to support distributed operations.”

The nominee additionally committed to comprehensively examining how the Pentagon can best further its missions to counter larger UAS. Notably, he left open the potential for a reallocation of roles and responsibilities with respect to the Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Office (JCO).

Currently, the Army functions as DOD’s executive agent for that office.

“The conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have reinforced the need for the Department to effectively counter small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), and that is inherently a Joint effort. If confirmed, I will wholeheartedly support the effort to effectively counter sUAS to ensure that the Joint Force has the protection it needs,” Hegseth wrote.

Following this hearing, Hegseth’s nomination now faces a vote of the full Senate for confirmation.

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“U.S. Northern Command conducted a deliberate analysis of the events, in consultation with other military organizations and interagency partners, and at this time we have not been requested to assist with these events. If these incidents require additional [Department of Defense] assistance, the Secretary of the Military Department or relevant DOD component head concerned can coordinate with [the command] for an enhanced or increased response,” a Northcom spokesperson said in an email. 

They pointed to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, from which officials revealed on Thursday that they’re supporting New Jersey law enforcement in the ongoing investigations.

To date though, the agencies “have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection,” according to a joint statement they shared with FedScoop and DefenseScoop. 

As the Pentagon implements a newly unveiled classified counter-drone plan, reports and videos have been shared widely online over the last few weeks of what appear to be drones of different shapes and sizes (and groups of such craft) above multiple locations around New Jersey — including a U.S. military munitions facility. 

“Naval Weapons Station Earle is aware of the recent reports of drone sightings across New Jersey and continues to closely coordinate with federal and state agencies to ensure the safety of our personnel and operations. While no direct threats to the installation have been identified, we can confirm at least two instances of an unidentified drone entering the airspace above Naval Weapons Station Earle,” a public affairs officer for the installation told DefenseScoop.

They said that, right now, members of the community should report any suspicious activity near the base to local law enforcement — not federal agencies.

Meanwhile, certain personnel based at the Naval weapons hub remain “prepared to respond to any potential risks, leveraging robust security measures and advanced detection capabilities,” according to the NWS Earle official.

They declined to elaborate on any features of those mechanisms the base is now implementing.

“For security reasons, we do not discuss force protection capabilities or procedures,” the official said.

Separately, the Northcom spokesperson confirmed that command officials are “aware and monitoring the reports of unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey to include Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle.” The two facilities are known to house advanced munitions and other crucial military assets.

Spokespersons from Picatinny Arsenal did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

In conjunction with interagency partners, Northcom is continuing to steadily assess new information as it flows in or fresh incidents are recorded. 

The command “is prepared to respond when asked or should the situation escalate to threaten any DOD installations,” the spokesperson told DefenseScoop.

At a White House briefing earlier on Thursday, U.S. National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby repeatedly emphasized that his team has “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”

As commander-in-chief, President Joe Biden would “issue the appropriate directives to not only law enforcement — but perhaps, even the military,” if he was supplied with new information that demonstrated any associated drone activities posed a threat to national security or public safety, Kirby said. He, as well as the officials who spoke to DefenseScoop, did not directly answer questions about whether the government is aware of any sources controlling the drones, and who they are.

Kirby broadly rebuffed claims previously put forth by lawmakers that some of the aircraft were observed maneuvering over critical infrastructure and sensitive government locations.

“While there is no known malicious activity occurring, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight a gap in authorities. So, we urge Congress to pass important legislation that will extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities, so that we are better prepared to identify and mitigate any potential threats to airports or other critical infrastructure, and so that state and local authorities are provided all the tools that they need to respond to such threats,” he said.

A DOD spokesperson could not immediately respond to DefenseScoop’s request for more information regarding whether the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is participating in the interagency effort to make sense of the drones — or if any of the systems reported in the state so far are categorized as “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” also known as UAP.

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Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks shed new light on this work in a press release Wednesday. 

In it, she also spotlighted the various products tapped for rapid delivery in the second tranche of the unfolding Replicator initiative, which Hicks conceptualized to help counter China’s massive, ongoing military buildup by incentivizing speedy domestic manufacturing of in-demand military assets through replicable processes.

She noted Wednesday that, through Replicator and other autonomy-pushing efforts, the Pentagon is starting to harness these enablers or “resilient decision-making architectures for collaborative autonomy teaming” that can essentially synchronize up to thousands of uncrewed capabilities in a secure and shared environment. 

“These ‘integrated enablers’ are enhancing the ability of Replicator systems to operate and collaborate autonomously, and to remain resilient in the face of jamming and other countermeasures. The Department is acquiring many of these integrated software enablers using Commercial Solutions Openings led by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) that streamline and accelerate onramps for commercial industry,” Hicks wrote.

“Announcement of these awards is forthcoming,” the deputy confirmed.

In the release, Hicks also for the first time officially confirmed all of the unclassified systems tapped in the second Replicator tranche, deemed 1.2. 

As DefenseScoop previously reported, this tranche includes Anduril Industries’ quiet and modular Ghost-X aerial drones via the Army’s Company-Level Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems effort — and multiple vendors, including Anduril, that have and will be selected in partnership with the Air Force’s Enterprise Test Vehicle.

“In many ways, Anduril was founded specifically to achieve the stated goals of the Replicator initiative: to accelerate the development, production, acquisition, and employment of large numbers of affordable, attritable autonomous systems. Across our business, we are delivering transformative, software-defined solutions at speed to ensure that warfighters have the capabilities they need, when they need them,” an Anduril spokesperson told DefenseScoop on Wednesday.

Hicks said in her announcement that the Pentagon is also “scaling loitering munitions through fielding and expanded experimentation” of Anduril’s Altius-600, and separately the Performance Drone Works C-100 UAS. 

“Replicator 1.2 also includes additional systems that remain classified, including low-cost long-range strike capabilities and maritime uncrewed systems,” Hicks wrote.

DefenseScoop reported in August that Anduril’s Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicles were selected to be quickly mass-produced in the second Replicator tranche.

Since Replicator’s launch in August 2023, DOD leaders and officials involved have been expressly tight-lipped — frequently citing security concerns — about the ambitious plan and how it’s panning out. The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General recently revealed it is conducting a comprehensive assessment of Replicator.

In her latest announcement, Hicks again committed to fielding these drone swarms and associated systems by August 2025 — as originally envisioned.

More than 500 commercial firms were considered for Replicator hardware and software contracting and major subcontracting opportunities across the first and second tranches, she noted, and awards have so far been made to more than 30 hardware and software companies and more than 50 subcontractors.

“The Replicator initiative is demonstrably reducing barriers to innovation, and delivering capabilities to warfighters at a rapid pace,” Hicks wrote.

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The LongShot initiative aims to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle that can employ “multiple air-to-air weapons,” according to a DARPA press release that came after phase 1 contracts for preliminary design work were awarded to General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman in 2021.

The agency wants “a novel UAV that can significantly extend engagement ranges, increase mission effectiveness, and reduce the risk to manned aircraft,” per the release. “Current air superiority concepts rely on advanced manned fighter aircraft to provide a penetrating counter air capability to effectively deliver weapons. It is envisioned that LongShot will increase the survivability of manned platforms by allowing them to be at standoff ranges far away from enemy threats, while an air-launched LongShot UAV efficiently closes the gap to take more effective missile shots.”

Earlier this week, General Atomics announced that it was tapped last year to participate in phase 2 of the project after it successfully completed a preliminary design review. A DARPA spokesperson told DefenseScoop that the company was the only industry player selected for the second phase.

Phase 2, which includes detailed designs and ground tests to demonstrate the viability of key subsystems, has already seen a “multi-body wind tunnel test, characterizing the LongShot air vehicle and air-to-air weapon separation,” according to a GA-ASI release.

The second phase of the program is now “close to an end,” the DARPA spokesperson told DefenseScoop, and a critical design review for the technology will occur “in the next few months.” A contract award for phase 3 will likely come in a similar time frame, they said.

General Atomics is currently preparing a proposal response for that next phase, which would include prototype manufacturing and the kick-off of flight testing next year, according to the contractor.

“GA-ASI is committed to the successful flight demonstration of the LongShot air vehicle,” senior director of advanced programs Michael Atwood said in a statement.

The LongShot UAV will be able to be launched by manned fighter jets, transports or other aircraft, and shoot down enemy aircraft, the contractor said in a series of tweets Monday.

The company recently conducted the first flight of another air-launched drone that it’s working on called the Eaglet, which is designed to carry sensors and other payloads. The system was carried and deployed from another unmanned aerial system — a U.S. Army MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range — during a demonstration at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, in December.

“Eaglet is intended to be a low-cost, survivable UAS with the versatility to be launched from a Gray Eagle, rotary-wing aircraft, or ground vehicles. It enables extended reach of sensors and increased lethality while providing survivability for manned aircraft,” GA-ASI President David Alexander said in a statement in January after the demo.

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“That planning assumption is 1,000 CCAs. This figure was derived from assuming two CCAs [each] for 200 NGAD platforms and an additional two for each of 300 F-35s, for a total of 1,000,” Kendall said during his keynote at the AFA Warfare Symposium. 

“This isn’t an inventory objective, but a planning assumption to use for analysis of things such as basing, organizational structures, training and range requirements, and sustainment concepts,” he noted.  

The Air Force must accelerate technological change and be integrated with allied partners “by design” to confront future threats, Kendall said, especially if it aims to out compete its top challenger: “China, China, China.”

He emphasized that, under the maturing plan, the CCAs will complement and enhance the performance of the service’s crewed fighter force structure, and the drones will not impact the planned manned fighter jet inventory. 

“One way to think of CCA is as remotely controlled versions of the targeting pods, electronic warfare pods or weapons now carried under the wings of our crewed aircraft. CCAs will dramatically improve the performance of our aircraft and significantly reduce the risk to our pilots,” Kendall said.

Though he did not share much details on the Air Force’s impending budget request for fiscal 2024, which is expected to be released in the coming days, Kendall confirmed that his team “will be requesting the resources needed to move these programs forward, along with associated risk-reduction activities that will allow us to explore operational organizational and support concepts as well as reduce technical risk.”

During his keynote, Kendall did not provide a timeline or insights regarding when the service expects the robotic wingmen to be fielded — but in a media roundtable after his speech on Tuesday, he told DefenseScoop that the Air Force is “going to move as fast as possible” to develop and unleash the systems. 

“The whole motivation initially on CCAs was observations over the last several years of a number of technology programs in that area that were being successful,” Kendall said.

He pointed to DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program and Australia’s Loyal Wingman program, among others, as examples.

As soon as he assumed his position as head of the Air Force, he asked his scientific advisory board to specifically look at the maturity of that suite of technologies to determine whether or not the service could proceed with a CCA type of program that was intended to move into production, he noted.

“And the answer is ‘yes’ from that advisory board,” he told DefenseScoop. “So that’s all evidence I have that we’re moving in the right direction.”

Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter told reporters: “We have been looking at an acquisition strategy and fielding in increments, and as the secretary said, the initial increment being one that we think is very much within grasp, not trying to shoot too far. So that suggests, you know, by the end of the decade we intend to start fielding them.”

However, senior officials acknowledge that Congress will play a major role in determining whether or not the grand plan comes into fruition.

“I am concerned about the [political] polarization this year, and how that’s going to affect how things ultimately come out,” Kendall said.

Updated at 6:00 PM on March 7, 2023: This story has been updated to include additional comments from Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter at a media roundtable at the AFA Warfare Symposium.

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