Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)

The United States Department of War’s $1.1 billion Drone Dominance Program is putting operators in the driver’s seat – literally – to identify top-performing systems. “Any drone that I have to train someone for a month on is less valuable than the drone that I don’t,” said DIU Deputy Director Travis Metz, in a recent interview with NBC news. “If I can put a soldier or a Marine flying the thing in a day, that’s a more valuable system from our point of view.” Last week, 49 companies were invited to prove their capabilities in the Phase 2 Qualifier at Camp Grayling, MI. This event will put approximately 79 unique drones to the test in one — or both — critical mission areas: Long Range Strike and Tactical Assault in Close Quarters. Read more here (paywall): https://lnkd.in/eNEJDgz7 #DroneDominance #MayTheBestDroneWin

Our Mine Countermeasure (MCM) Modernization Prize Challenge is now live. DIU and the U.S. Navy are launching a $10,000,000 prize challenge for Mine Countermeasure (MCM) Modernization to bring the best commercial uncrewed technology to the Navy’s fleet to safely reacquire and neutralize maritime mine threats. “This is a high-priority mission set for the U.S. Navy, and it is an area we expect to expand rapidly,” said William Mahan, Performing the Duties of Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. “Successful solutions are designed to immediately integrate with the Navy's suite of MCM capabilities across the fleet.” Selected performers will be awarded initial prizes on June 19, 2026, ahead of aggressive summer in-water testing. “We are looking for mature, rapidly fieldable commercial solutions that can finish the detect-to-engage kill chain while keeping our warfighters entirely out of the threat zone,” said Jarred Conley, DIU’s Maritime Principal Director. Submissions due by June 10 at 23:59:59 Eastern Time. Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/etCE565Z

Our Autonomous Resupply Vessel (ARV) solicitation is now live. The Department of War relies on the US Army for intra-theater logistics, creating a heavy dependence on supply chains to sustain joint operations at required speed and scale. Army Watercraft Systems (AWS) are critical to distributing supplies across dispersed littoral formations in the Indo-Pacific theater, but the current fleet is aging and reliant upon a limited cadre of Army senior enlisted mariners. The DoW is looking toward unmanned systems to solve these challenges and is seeking solutions for a small, Autonomous Resupply Vehicle (ARV-S). The ARV-S’ primary job will be regularly resupplying containerized cargo to forward-deployed units in the form of Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs). Submissions due by June 12 at 23:59:59 Eastern Time. https://lnkd.in/eaZnMvt4

Our All Players - Modular & Scalable Architectures for Joint Simulation and Wargaming solicitation is now live. The Department of War lacks the ability to rehearse, validate and iterate Operational Plans (OPLANs) for contested, multi-domain conflict at the scale and speed required for modern warfare. The government is constructing dedicated facilities to support the required scale of virtual training and mission rehearsal. However, these facilities impose strict constraints on physical footprint, power, cooling, and sustainment. They also require modularity and rapid reconfigurability across multiple mission platforms and classification levels, thereby limiting the utility of existing large, monolithic, and platform-specific simulators. To address this gap, the DoW seeks modular and scalable simulation and training architectures for military platforms that enable 100+ players to exercise and rehearse within a shared synthetic battlespace. Submissions due by June 8 at 23:59:59 Eastern Time. https://lnkd.in/e9e9-Zi2

Air Education and Training Command in partnership with DIU, has fielded more than 200 virtual training devices for pilots. More recently, AETC's Det 24 partnered with DIU under the Virtual Training For Air Dominance (VTRAD) project to field the next evolution of this technology, with upgrades like fully integrated and realistic cockpit controls, high-fidelity commercial simulation environments, and enhanced visualization systems. Read more in Air & Space Forces Magazine https://lnkd.in/dc5zrgCX

Our Robotic Operation for Autonomous Delivery and Sustainment (ROADS) Prize Challenge is now live. Over two decades ago, the Department of War helped plant the seeds for the driverless car industry via the DARPA Grand Challenge. Driverless cars are now operational in cities across the country - increasing utilization, lowering accident rates, and improving efficiency. It’s time for the DoW to harvest the benefits of those investments and advancements. The Defense Innovation Unit and the US Army are launching a $30,000,000 prize challenge for Robotic Operation for Autonomous Delivery and Sustainment (ROADS) to bring the best of consumer driverless car technology to the Department’s non-tactical vehicle (NTV) fleet to support on-installation logistics. “We’re looking for consumer-proven technology to help bring the benefits our Department personnel enjoy off-installation, onto the installation,” said David Payne, Acting Autonomy Portfolio Director at DIU. Submissions open through June 8 at 23:59:59 Eastern Time. Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/eaw7PT9i

The Road to the Gauntlet: Phase 2 Qualifier Invitees Announced The Drone Dominance Program is challenging 49 companies to prove their capabilities in the Phase 2 Qualifier at Camp Grayling, Michigan. This event will put approximately 79 unique drones to the test in one -- or both -- critical mission areas: Long Range Strike and Tactical Assault in Close Quarters. The following organizations have been invited to compete, listed in alphabetical order: Adler Aerospace LLC  ADS + LUMENIER  AeroVironment (AV) Inc.  Agilis Air Inc.  Ascent Aerosystems Inc.  Auterion Government Solutions  Chase Defense Partners/Advanced Aircraft Company  Chey-Tac Inc.  Cyclops Defense LLC  DefendEye USA Inc.  Envision Technology, LLC  Ewing Aerospace  Farage Precision  Griffon Aerospace  Grim Tech Halo Aeronautics, LLC  Hyperscale Kratos LTMilTech USA Mithril Defense ModalAI Inc.  Mountain Horse Solutions + AG3Labs  Mountain Horse Solutions + Draganfly  Neros  ORQA US LLC  Perennial Autonomy  Performance Drone Works (PDW)  Planned Systems International  Powerus  Rajant Corporation  Renegade UxS  Skycutter  SOF Landing  Stellarion Swarm Defense  T3i Inc.  Teal Drones Inc.  Tesseract Ventures  UAS Nexus  UDD (Ukrainian Defense Drones) Tech Corp.  Vantor Inc.  Vector  Viter Systems Inc.  Volatus Aerospace USA  W.S. Darley & Co.  WGS Systems, LLC  Wilcox Cherry Defense LLC  XTEND Reality Inc.  Zaruba Full details here: https://lnkd.in/eq7qg8sM #DroneDominance #MayTheBestDroneWin United States National Drone Association

“For 30 years, the Pentagon has favored expensive quality over quantity. The battlefield evidence is clear. While we are winning every engagement, we are losing on the cost exchange too often.” DIU is relentlessly focused on lowering the cost per kill while reducing the risk to force. Thursday the 14th on Capitol Hill, Director Owen West testified before the HASC CITI lawmakers along with DoW innovation leadership Hon. Emil Michael, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and Mr. Cameron Stanley, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/eXyeB2UA

We know that innovation is no longer enough. It must be matched with production. Speaking at AUVSI Xponential yesterday, DIU Deputy Director Travis Metz highlighted the rapid success of our Drone Dominance Program. We have ordered 30,000 warfighter-tested drones in a matter of months, and that’s just the start. We are acting quickly – and decisively – to overmatch our adversaries. The slow way of doing business doesn’t stand a chance in today’s Department. https://lnkd.in/ecDGE9dD AUVSI — Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International

Congratulations to the winners of the Drone Dominance Program Lethality Challenge: Bravo Ordnance Kela Technologies Kraken Kinetics Mountain Horse Solutions Northrop Grumman The Lethality Prize Challenge addresses the critical need for cost-effective, mass-producible, and easily integrated lethal payloads for small drones. Winners will receive a cash prize of $10,000 and be presented to all Gauntlet II applicants as a part of a preferred munitions solutions list.