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
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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Industry & Contracts
Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Piles Into Kratos Defense as Drone and Anti-Drone Budget Bets Pay Off
Ark Invest bought roughly $9.1 million of Kratos Defense stock in early July 2026, betting on a drone maker whose unmanned systems revenue is growing over 30% amid a proposed $70 billion Pentagon drone budget.
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Counter-UAS
AeroVironment's Titan-MS Wins First $80.5M Task Order to Shield Barksdale AFB From Drone Incursions
The Army issued the first task order under AeroVironment's $500M Domestic Shield IDIQ on July 6, sending $80.5M worth of Titan-MS counter-drone sensors to Air Force Global Strike Command bases after Barksdale AFB's repeated 2026 incursions.
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Counter-UAS
Russia's $1.5 Million Jammer Problem: Inside the Race to Blind Ukraine's Starlink-Guided Drones
Reuters reports Russia is fielding a $1.5M Crimean-built jammer that can disrupt Starlink over just 20 sq km at a time — and Ukraine's 422nd Regiment is already destroying the trailers.
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Commercial & Delivery
Drone Industry's Next Bottleneck Isn't Airframes — It's Battery Cells, and China Owns Them
A July 7 industry op-ed warns China controls 75-85% of global lithium-ion cell capacity and 99% of spherical graphite anode material, just as FY2024 and FY2026 NDAA bans on six Chinese battery makers begin phasing in against Pentagon drone purchases.
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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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Industry & Contracts
Kratos Adds 100,000+ Square Feet to Oklahoma City Plant to Scale Jet-Drone Output
Kratos is expanding its Oklahoma City campus by more than 100,000 square feet to push jet-drone output beyond 165 units a year, backing Valkyrie, Firejet and Taiwan's Mighty Hornet IV programs.
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Counter-UAS
DroneShield's Q3 Software Leap Lands as Pentagon Counter-Drone Spending Pipeline Swells
DroneShield sharpened its RF detection and tracking software on July 6 just as the Pentagon handed AeroVironment a potential $500 million counter-drone contract, underscoring a red-hot C-UAS market racing to outpace cheaper, faster drone threats.
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Policy & Regulation
FAA's Critical-Infrastructure Drone-Restriction Rule Closes Its Public Comment Window
The FAA's first formal process letting critical-infrastructure operators petition for drone flight restrictions closed for public comment this week, setting up two new tiers of no-fly zones covering 16 sectors from energy to defense plants.
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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.
