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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Industry & Contracts
Pentagon Commits Up to $820M to Performance Drone Works to Build Domestic Drone Component Supply Chain
The Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital signed a conditional loan of up to $820 million with Performance Drone Works on July 31, 2026, to mass-produce propulsion, power/control, and vision-system components for Group 1/2 drones industry-wide.
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Counter-UAS
Air Force's $500M 'Domestic Shield' Program Fields ARGUS-XL Counter-Drone Sensor Platform
AeroVironment and Teledyne FLIR Defense unveiled the ARGUS-XL multi-sensor counter-drone platform on July 29, 2026, fusing radar, EO/IR and command-and-control software to protect US installations under the Air Force-led JIATF-401 Domestic Shield program.
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Counter-UAS
Pentagon's Counter-Drone Task Force Publishes 'Small Drones, Big Problems' Handbook
JIATF 401, the Army-led counter-UAS task force stood up last fall, has released a first-principles handbook aimed at giving the military, agencies, industry and academia a shared vocabulary and layered-defense framework for fighting small drones.
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Industry & Contracts
XTEND and JFB Construction Close In on $1.5B Merger to Form Nasdaq-Listed XTEND AI Robotics
SEC filings show Israeli drone-robotics firm XTEND and Nasdaq-listed JFB Construction advancing toward a $1.5B all-stock reverse merger that would list XTEND AI Robotics as XTND, as XTEND also closes its Atlas acquisition and lands a spot in a $1B Pentagon drone program.
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Policy & Regulation
FCC Cracks Its Own Drone Ban Open Again: Two More Foreign UAS Win Conditional Approval to Keep Selling in the U.S.
The FCC has granted Conditional Approvals to two more foreign-produced drones — Exedy Globalparts' Ayre CX and Parallel Flight Technologies' Firefly — letting them sidestep the Covered List ban if they follow onshoring plans and keep passing government vetting.
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Counter-UAS
The Air Force Starts Building Its Own Base Defense: A Launcher RFI, and 20-Airman Point Defense Flights
A Wright-Patterson RFI for a transportable launcher that kills cruise missiles and Group 1-5 drones lands the same week the Air Force details new 20-Airman Point Defense Flights trained at Fort Sill — backed by $51.8M in FY26 SUADS buys and a $1.4B FY27 ABADS request.
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Industry & Contracts
Skydio Gets Its Whole Lineup Cleared — Including the First Blue UAS Drone-in-a-Box for DFR
Skydio's X10, Dock for X10 and R10 joined the Blue UAS Cleared List on 23 July 2026, making its entire lineup cleared and the Dock the first Blue UAS-cleared drone-as-first-responder system — unlocking Byrne JAG, COPS and HSGP grant money just as the list itself moves from DIU to DCMA.
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Commercial & Delivery
The 1,000-Pound Crop Duster: US Heavy-Lift Ag Drones Scale Up Just as the FAA Starts Auditing Part 137 Exemption Holders
Powerus is pushing 100-1,000 lb US-built spray drones into agriculture through Kaizen Aerospace and a $60M New Zealand distribution deal — in the same week the FAA disclosed it is running operational validations on noncompliant Part 137 exemption holders and closing petitions that ignore its Requests for Information.
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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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Policy & Regulation
Reverse Lend-Lease: Kyiv and Washington Reportedly Sign the First Bilateral Framework to Ship Ukrainian Combat Drones Into US Test Ranges
Reported July 21-22: a US-Ukraine statement of intent would let Ukrainian aerial, ground and maritime drones be temporarily exported to America for Pentagon testing — no procurement, no tech transfer, but a direct line into the $1 billion Drone Dominance requirements pipeline.
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Counter-UAS
Lockheed's MORFIUS X-Rotor Bets That the Cheapest Way to Kill a Swarm Is a Drone You Fly Home Afterwards
At Farnborough on 20 July 2026, Lockheed Martin unveiled MORFIUS X-Rotor, an airborne high-power-microwave interceptor it claims can neutralise 50-plus drones per flight and then be recovered and reused — a direct answer to the cost-exchange problem Congress has hammered DoD over for three years.
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Counter-UAS
The Pentagon's New Rulebook Says Drones Aren't a 'Silver Bullet' — Inside JIATF-401's C-UAS Handbook
JIATF-401's new handbook trades shoot-first instincts for a 'Four Ps, Five Ds' framework, backed by Shahed and FPV casualty data showing why kinetic-only counter-drone thinking fails.
