The U.S. Department of War’s Drone Dominance Program (DDP) has announced a major expansion of its effort to rapidly scale domestic drone production, selecting the top five performers in both its Deep Strike and Close Quarters Battle (CQB) mission areas to receive orders from a pool of 60,000 drones.
The announcement marks the latest milestone for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and Test Resource Management Center (TRMC)-led initiative, which is designed to accelerate the delivery of low-cost, combat-effective unmanned systems to military operators through competitive testing and rapid acquisition pathways.
According to program officials, the 60,000-drone order pool represents a threefold increase over Gauntlet I and reflects significant advancements in capability, affordability, and domestic manufacturing capacity.
“We have selected the top five performers in both Deep Strike and Close Quarters Battle mission areas. Each will receive orders from a pool of 60,000 drones, three times the scale of Gauntlet I. These drones are also cheaper, more capable, and sourced from a supply chain more closely tied to the American industrial base.” – Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).
The latest Drone Dominance leaderboard highlights the companies that emerged as the highest-performing participants during the Gauntlet evaluation process, which measures operational effectiveness alongside manufacturing scalability and supply chain readiness.
