The Army is moving to field enough small, one-way attack drones to equip every squad by the end of the month, an Army official told reporters on Sept 17, and then will shift its focus from acquiring the systems to training soldiers to operate them.
Col. Gregory Merkl, the Army’s Drone Dominance director, said the Army has already fielded 10,000 drones and is fielding an additional 30,000, which he said is sufficient to supply the squad level.
The Army’s effort is part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s broader Drone Dominance push to accelerate the production and fielding of small, one-way attack drones across the military. Under the program, the Army was directed to equip every squad with the systems by the end of fiscal 2026.
With the Army now approaching the required volume of drones, Merkl said the challenge is shifting from getting the systems into the force to ensuring soldiers are prepared to use them effectively.
“Where we still have some work to do, candidly, is getting everybody trained at the appropriate level,” Merkl said.
The service currently has the capability to operate drones at the platoon level across the force, Merkl said, but still needs to qualify pilots at the squad level.
That training is particularly important for soldiers operating in a contested electromagnetic spectrum, where adversaries may try to jam or otherwise disrupt drones and the communications links they rely on, he said.
Merkl said the Army is “running a whole series of working groups” at the headquarters level and with interagency partners, including the Federal Aviation Administration, to help soldiers understand how to “safely use the spectrum.”
He explained that the goal is to “provide our warfighters realistic training environments at their home stations. That way, the first time they experience that environment isn’t … in a real combat environment.”
DOD announces drone awards.
The Defense Department (DOD) this week announced the winners of Gauntlet II, the second in a series of competitions conducted under the Drone Dominance Program to test small attack drones against specific battlefield requirements.
Gauntlet II, held at Fort Carson, Colo., tested drones on long-range strike and close-quarters missions. Perennial Autonomy won the deep-strike category, while Neros topped the close-quarters battle category. According to a post from the Defense Innovation Unit, each vendor will receive orders from a pool of 60,000 drones.
Gauntlet 2.5 is slated to begin next month and will focus on bomber platform missions, according to the department.
Gauntlet 3 is expected to start about six months after Gauntlet 2, and
Gauntlet 4 about six months after that.
Under the Trump administration, the DOD was rebranded as the War Department.