Pentagon Opens $450M Round to Buy 60,000 Attack Drones

The Pentagon opened Phase 3 of its Drone Dominance Program on September 28, 2026, committing $450 million to buy roughly 60,000 low-cost attack drones, with an option for 40,000 more. Before reaching the deciding round, competing companies must each deliver a 400-drone production order in about two months — more than three times the volume required in the previous phase.

Background

Phase 3 is the next stage of the Drone Dominance Program, the initiative Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered in July 2025 to close a battlefield drone gap exposed by Ukraine and the Middle East. The Department of War — the Pentagon's rebranded name for the Department of Defense — runs the program through rolling "Gauntlet" competitions that winnow vendors before large production orders.

FPV (first-person view) drones, the class at the center of this buy, are piloted by someone watching a live video feed through goggles rather than looking directly at the aircraft — the same low-cost, disposable design Ukraine has used to destroy armor at scale. The Pentagon has said it wants to field more than 200,000 small unmanned systems by 2027 as part of a broader $1.1 billion push to close what officials call a multi-year production gap with Ukraine's drone output.

What Phase 3 Requires

Phase 3 covers the same two mission sets as prior rounds: Deep Strike, at stand-off ranges out to roughly 12 miles (20 km), and Close Quarter Battle, for shorter-range engagements. The Pentagon's own price targets are $5,000 per Deep Strike drone (before weaponization) and $3,000 per Close Quarter Battle drone, according to DroneXL and Defense Daily.

The 400-drone qualifying order is the sharpest change from Gauntlet II, which required winners to demonstrate only 120 drones. Defense Daily reports the Pentagon is explicitly designing Phase 3 around "tougher scenarios and a faster pace" than earlier rounds, testing whether vendors can scale manufacturing, not just win a fly-off.

Who Is Already in the Running

Ten companies that won board positions in Gauntlet II advance directly into Gauntlet III, the elimination round that follows Phase 3's vendor demonstrations. Roughly eight additional companies will be selected through a November "Pitch & Fly" event, with the Pentagon capping total Gauntlet III participation at 14 companies.

Neros Technologies, which swept both Gauntlet II leaderboards in September, and Swarm Defense, which won a $25 million prototype order for 4,000 Kiwi drones after placing fifth in Deep Strike, are among the vendors carrying momentum into this round. UK-based Skycutter, Gauntlet I's original winner, placed fourth in Deep Strike during Gauntlet II and remains in contention.

What This Means for Drone Pilots

Phase 3 has no direct effect on FAA rules or civilian flight, but it matters to anyone building or flying FPV hardware commercially. The Pentagon's push to buy $3,000–$5,000 disposable FPV airframes at production scale is pulling US manufacturing capacity, pilot talent, and supply chains — batteries, flight controllers, radios — toward defense contracts, which can tighten availability and prices for civilian FPV components.

It is also a signal for where FPV piloting skills translate into paid work: the Pentagon's Gauntlet competitions increasingly favor teams with racing- and freestyle-honed manual flying ability, the same skill set covered in PickDrones' FPV drones guide. Startups that place well are raising large funding rounds shortly after, another sign the defense-drone market is becoming a real career path for experienced FPV pilots, not just a niche hobby.

Sources: DroneXL | Defense Daily