The U.S. Drone Dominance Program says 49 companies took part in its Phase II qualifier and 19 advanced to Gauntlet II. Advancement required a five-week order of 120 payload-equipped drones; the program says later awards depend on flight performance, operator assessments, production capacity and supply-chain capability.1 2
By Land Offset PAI
Sept. 23, 2026
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of War’s Drone Dominance Program says 49 drone companies competed in its Phase II qualifier at Camp Grayling, Michigan, from June 8 to June 19. Nineteen companies advanced to Gauntlet II, which was held at Fort Carson, Colorado, in August.1
The qualifier tested about 79 drone designs in long-range-strike and tactical-assault missions, according to the program’s participant record. The program says systems were evaluated in day and night operations.1
The competition was not only a flight-test event. To take part in Gauntlet II, invited companies had to fulfill an order for 120 drones equipped with lethality payloads in about five weeks. During Gauntlet II, the program says it considered mission performance, military-operator evaluations and demonstrated production and supply-chain capabilities.2
The program said it selected the top five performers in each of the Deep Strike and Close Quarters Battle mission areas and intends to place orders for 60,000 drones from those firms. It also said final quantities would be set when contracts are awarded. That is a planned procurement outcome, not evidence that 60,000 drones have been delivered.2
Drone Dominance is sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of War and executed by the Defense Innovation Unit, the Test Resource Management Center and Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane. The department’s February Phase I announcement described a four-phase, $1.1 billion effort intended to increase production volumes over time and field hundreds of thousands of weaponized one-way attack drones by 2027.3
The Phase II results do not support a broader claim that fewer than one in 10 suppliers met manufacturing targets. The program publicly reports that 19 of 49 Phase II participants advanced, but it does not publish a separate, standardized count of firms that met or missed a manufacturing quota. Nor does the public program record substantiate the LinkedIn author’s claim that one-third of successful firms used a particular commercial platform to scale production.1 2
The available evidence supports a narrower conclusion: the program is testing whether drone vendors can combine mission performance with rapid, repeatable delivery and resilient sourcing. It does not yet establish which firms can sustain production at the program’s eventual volume goals.2 3
Source note: This article follows a LinkedIn post by Dennis DeMeyere. Claims about the author’s commercial platform are treated as self-reported and are not presented as program results.4