U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon, July 10, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Lance Cpl. Isaac Llanez Delgado)
A U.S. Marine Corps XQ-58A Valkyrie, highly autonomous, tactical unmanned air vehicle, soars overhead during its second test flight at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Feb. 23, 2023. The XQ-58A Valkyrie test flight and the data collected inform future requirements for the Marine Corps. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. John McRell)
Sgt. Lucero Martinez, an unmanned aircraft systems operator, assigned to Detachment 1, Delta Company, 545th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, helps launch an unmanned aircraft system during a UAS exercise on June 12, 2025 at Camp Gruber Training Center, Oklahoma. The exercise, hosted by the 45th IBCT and featured numerous UAS and counter-UAS systems, focused on preparing infantry Soldiers to react to UAS threats. (Oklahoma National Guard photo by Spc. Cambrie Cannon)
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Bryan Deel, Combat Engineer, Team 2330, 2nd Security Force Assistance Brigade, reacts to a complex assault, using a Dronebuster to neutralize an enemy drone, during Operation Combined Victory (OCV) on Muscatatuck Training Center, Indiana, Feb. 10, 2024. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jonathan D. Vitale)
U.S. Soldiers from various units across Europe launch a Switchblade 600 during Loitering Munitions Training at the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Nov. 5, 2024. This was the first time U.S. Soldiers launched Switchblade 600s, a loitering munition system, in Europe. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Cody Nelson)
The request for additional loitering munitions comes as officials are undertaking a new Army Transformation Initiative to modernize the force for future high-tech combat.
A U.S. Air Force Jump-20 unmanned aerial vehicle assigned to the 27th Special Operations Wing flies over a sunset at Melrose Air Force Range, N.M., June 20, 2023. The Jump-20 UAV was used to exercise the single operator, multi-system control model in a simulated deployed environment. (U.S. Air Force photo Senior Airman Alexcia Givens)
This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organised by Ukraine, shows a destroyed Russian tank outside Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)
A U.S. Air Force Special Tactics operator with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida, programs a surveillance drone to provide security at Eglin Range, Florida, Dec. 6, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by SrA Christopher H. Stolze)
Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command hosted distinguished visitors at Falcon Peak on Fort Carson, Colorado, Oct. 30, 2024. Falcon Peak is a USNORTHCOM led counter-small unmanned aircraft system experiment. (U.S. Department of Defense photos by Josh Armstrong)
U.S. Soldiers assigned to Hound Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, conduct a demonstration for the local media with the Skydio X2D Drone during exercise Combined Resolve (CbR) 25-1 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, Hohenfels Training Area, Hohenfels, Germany, Feb. 3, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Thomas Dixon)
New technology enabled the experimental unit to disperse more and hide in the electromagnetic spectrum more easily, providing the first true deployment test for the Army’s transforming-in-contact…