U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles and an F-22 Raptor assigned to the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron participate in exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 with 32nd Air Refueling Squadron air crews over the Pacific Ocean, Aug. 9, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Monica Roybal)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth operates a touch screen to remotely control a helicopter from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Va., Nov. 14, 2025. (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza)
Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones are positioned on the tarmac at a base in the U.S. Central Command. (Photo by CENTCOM Public Affairs).
Shield AI said its Hivemind software will “serve as the AI pilot for the LUCAS program, enabling groups of drones to coordinate, maneuver, and adapt together to…
A US soldier prepares an interception drone of the American MEROPS counter drone system to launch during tests at the Nowa Deba military training ground, south-eastern Poland, on November 18, 2025. (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP) (Photo by WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Joint Interagency Task Force 401 noted in its press release that these systems “are currently being employed by forces operating in U.S. Central Command.”
A Space X Falcon 9 rocket launches from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, Feb. 14, 2024. The rocket was launched as part of classified mission USSF-124, sending six satellites to orbit – two for the Missile Defense Agency and four for the Space Development Agency. (U.S. Space Force photo by Airman 1st Class Spencer Contreras)
Marine Raiders with Fox Company, 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Marine Forces Special Operations Command, provides perimeter security, at an undisclosed location Dec. 16, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photos by Lance Cpl. Jared Saul)
“The ability to quickly integrate autonomous behaviors on multiple different platforms in multiple different domains, without it having to be specifically built for that platform, is something…
A B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 419th Flight Test Squadron is undergoes pre-flight procedures at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Aug. 8, 2020. The aircraft conducted a captive-carry flight test of the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon Instrumented Measurement Vehicle 2 at the Point Mugu Sea Range off the Southern California coast. (Air Force photo by Giancarlo Casem)
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in front of a map of Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system in the Oval Office at the White House on May 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Sunset in the Atlantic from USNS Pathfinder (T-AGS 60) a Military Sealift Command oceanographic survey ship during a scheduled underway with Sailors from U.S. Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and staff from Naval Oceanographic Office on board. (US Navy photo by LT Bobby Dixon / Released)
Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, director of the Missile Defense Agency prepares before the House Armed Services Subcommittee FY27 missile defense and missile defeat programs and activities hearing in the Rayburn House office Building on April 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Luke Johnson/Getty Images)
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology Dr. Joseph S. Jewell participates in the Department of Defense Lab Day at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., May 05, 2026. (DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Carson Croom)
U.S. Marines compete in wargaming during Modern Day Marine 2026 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C., April 30, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Matthew A. McDonnell)
A Marine with 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, conducts reconnaissance and surveillance from an observation post during exercise Platinum Ren at Sorreisa, Norway, May 25, 2018. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Miguel A. Rosales)
Anthony Kavanaugh, left, a drone operator with a U.S. Army Unmanned Aerial Systems Mission Assurance team, operates a small-UAS while Ari Snipes, right, a drone operator with a U.S. Army UASMA team, prepares a s-UAS at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C., April 23, 2026. (U.S. Air Force photo by Hayden Hallman)
Department of Defense Inspector General Platte B. Moring III and senior leadership from the office’s criminal investigative arm met recently with Colin M. McDonald, the Department of Justice’s first-ever Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division. (DOD OIG PHOTO)
U.S. Army Maj. Steven McPherson, a joint doctrine team chief with the National Guard Bureau, looks at the interface of the Maven Smart System in Arlington, Virginia Feb. 20. McPherson was in a class to learn the MSS and its capability to process vast amounts of data from weather to troop locations. (U.S. Army Photo by Master Sgt. Whitney Hughes)