The Drone Dominance Program (DDP) is pleased to invite 19 companies to participate in Gauntlet II of its $1.1-billion Drone Dominance program at Fort Carson, CO, in August 2026, bringing them a stage closer to competing for production orders totaling 60,000 small-class one-way attack unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
Congratulations to the following companies for their strong performance at the Qualifier and their advancement to the next stage:
DDP held the Qualifier from June 8–19, 2026, at Camp Grayling, MI, in which a total of 49 drone companies were invited to compete. Drones were tested in day and night operations across one or both mission areas: Long Range Strike and Tactical Assault in Confined Environments. The event was highly competitive with innovative designs from companies across industry.
To be eligible to participate in Gauntlet II, all invited companies must fulfill an order of 120 drones with lethality payloads within approximately five weeks.
All drone companies are paired with one or multiple lethality providers. The lethality providers previously selected under the DDP’s Lethality Prize Challenge are as follows:
- Bravo Ordnance
- Kela Defense US Inc.
- Kraken Kinetics Inc.
- Mountain Horse LLC
- Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.
After the conclusion of Gauntlet II, DDP will place orders for 60,000 drones from top-performing companies that will be ranked on the leaderboard.
Gauntlet II will take place in August at Fort Carson, Colorado, in which each company must deliver 120 kamikaze drones equipped with lethality payloads within about five weeks, demonstrating they can manufacture for wartime scenarios.
Source: Drone Dominance Program