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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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.
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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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Tech & Builds
How the Military Is Solving GPS Jamming Now That R-GPS Is Dead
The Space Force killed its Resilient GPS anti-jam satellite program in January 2026. Here's why it died, what M-code, GPS IIIF and CRPA anti-jam antennas are doing instead, and why the timing is brutal given jamming in Ukraine and the Middle East.
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Counter-UAS
Counter-UAS Technology Compared: Kinetic, RF Jamming, High-Power Microwave, Laser, and Net Interceptors
A side-by-side comparison of the five ways drones are actually defeated today — kinetic interceptors, RF/GPS jamming, high-power microwave, directed-energy lasers, and net-capture systems — with range, cost per engagement, tradeoffs, and who's legally allowed to use each under SAFER SKIES.
