Department of Defense
Every UASFeed story on Department of Defense — across defense, counter-UAS, industry, commercial, policy, and tech, newest first.
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Defense & Combat
US Army Shuts Down 173rd Airborne's Experimental Drone Battalion in Europe
Less than a year after standing up a 600-soldier drone battalion modeled on Ukraine's tactics, the Army is dissolving it and sending the 173rd Airborne back to core infantry duty.
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Defense & Combat
Neros Triples to $2.5B Valuation on FPV Attack-Drone Demand
Neros raised $250M at a $2.5B valuation as it races to scale Archer FPV attack-drone production toward 1 million units a year, backed by a $500M Army IDIQ.
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Defense & Combat
F-Drones' Ukrainian F10 Quadcopter Enters US Service Under Pentagon's Drone Dominance Program
Ukrainian manufacturer F-Drones delivered the first 2,000 F10 FPV strike quadcopters to US forces on July 31, becoming the first Ukrainian drone cleared for export to the US under the Pentagon's $1 billion Drone Dominance Program.
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Defense & Combat
The Pentagon Wants a Drone That Comes Home: $32M for 1,200 Reusable Bombers at $20,000 a Copy
Phase 2.5 "Mission C" of the Drone Dominance Program asks industry for reusable 55-pound bomber drones that survive at least 30 sorties — 150 preferred — at $20,000 apiece, a pointed break from the disposable one-way attack drones the program has bought so far.
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Defense & Combat
What Military Drones Actually Cost, Platform by Platform
A verified cost ladder across drone classes, from $500 FPV strike drones to a $618 million MQ-4C Triton, showing why unit cost, all-up-round cost, and program cost are not the same number.
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Defense & Combat
How Military Drone Pilots Are Trained: Inside the UAS Pipeline
From Air Force officers flying MQ-9 Reapers to Army 15Ws at Fort Huachuca to squad-level FPV familiarization, a look at how the U.S. military actually trains drone operators, and how South Korea and Ukraine compare.
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Defense & Combat
Pentagon's DIU Opens Hunt for Disposable Drone to Complement the MQ-9A Reaper
DIU's new Massed Modular Aircraft solicitation seeks a cheap, mass-producible drone that can fly 2,300 nm combat radius with a 2,800-lb payload to take over Reaper missions and absorb combat losses.
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Defense & Combat
DIU Wants a Cheap, Mass-Producible Hunter-Killer Drone to Replace the Reaper
The Defense Innovation Unit is soliciting a low-cost, modular strike/ISR drone to replace the MQ-9A Reaper after nearly 30 were lost in recent Iran operations, with bids due July 23, 2026.
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Defense & Combat
Hegseth Creates Pentagon 'Drone Czar' Office, Stripping Services of Unmanned Systems Authority
A memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth creates a new joint office with milestone authority over nearly all Pentagon drone programs, pulling buying power away from the individual armed services.
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Defense & Combat
DoD UAS Group Classifications Explained: Group 1 Through Group 5
A reference guide to the Pentagon's five-group UAS classification system: weight, altitude, and speed thresholds from JP 3-30, its 2008 origins, real-world edge cases, and why the group a drone falls into shapes approval authority and training rules.
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Defense & Combat
Ukraine's Magura Naval Drone Sinks a Target Ship in the Philippines — Its First Indo-Pacific Combat Debut
U.S. Green Berets used a Ukrainian-built Magura drone boat to sink a target vessel during Balikatan 2026, marking the first Indo-Pacific deployment of battle-tested Ukrainian naval-drone technology.
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Defense & Combat
Phoenix Ghost: The Air Force's Classified Loitering Munition Family Built for Ukraine
AEVEX Aerospace's Phoenix Ghost — developed under a classified U.S. Air Force program before Russia's 2022 invasion — grew from a 121-drone Ukraine announcement into a $576 million, 5,000-unit program encompassing four named variants across two UAS groups. Here's what's confirmed, and what remains classified.
