Defense Innovation Unit
Every UASFeed story on Defense Innovation Unit — across defense, counter-UAS, industry, commercial, policy, and tech, newest first.
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Defense & Combat
72 Hours of Escalation: Ukraine's Drones Hit Kyiv, a Saratov Refinery, and Russia's Only A-50U Repair Hub
Ukrainian drones hit the Taganrog plant that repairs Russia's scarce A-50U AWACS fleet and set a Saratov refinery ablaze, while retaliatory strikes killed at least seven across Kyiv, Bryansk, Belgorod and Crimea in a single 72-hour window.
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Defense & Combat
After Losing a Quarter of Its Reapers Over Iran, the Air Force Pulls Its $10M 'Massed Modular Aircraft' Successor Forward Two Years
With at least 45 MQ-9s shot down in Operation Epic Fury and Reaper production already shut, the Air Force is dragging DIU's $10M-per-airframe Massed Modular Aircraft from a 2031 target to as early as 2029.
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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
The Undersea Drone Explained: UUV Categories, Programs, and the Race Below
Uncrewed undersea vehicles now patrol the same cables that carry 97% of global communications. From man-portable REMUS scouts to 85-ton Orca XLUUVs, this is how the U.S. Navy classifies, builds, and struggles to field them — and why China is moving faster.
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Defense & Combat
Pentagon's Replicator Initiative: Thousands Promised, Hundreds Delivered
DoD's Replicator initiative launched in August 2023 with a promise to field multiple thousands of attritable autonomous systems within 18–24 months to counter China’s mass advantage. Two years on, hundreds have been delivered, the program has pivoted to counter-drone defense, and oversight gaps persist.
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Defense & Combat
Ukraine's Drone Industry: How 7 Manufacturers Became 500 Under Fire
In three years of full-scale war, Ukraine built one of the world's most battle-tested drone industries from scratch—capable of 4 million units per year—while racing to cut a near-total dependency on Chinese components.
