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unmanned systems

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 147th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron perform postflight checks on an MQ-9 Reaper drone assigned to the 147th Attack Wing, Texas Air National Guard, at Keflavík Air Base, Iceland, during exercise Northern Viking 26, Aug. 21, 2026. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Edgar Grimaldo)

Air Force moves to accelerate effort to replace MQ-9 Reaper after combat losses in Iran war

“We want to bring this thing forward because of the fact that, although we have plenty of MQ-9As today, we are going through them at a rate…
A U.S. Army drone observes a training unit in the woods during exercise Saber Junction 26 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center’s Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, Aug. 29, 2026. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Brandon Miles)

Lawmakers with ‘deep concerns’ press Army leadership about decision to terminate unit’s Ukraine-informed drone mission

Following an exercise in Germany set to end this month, the battalion will stop its specialized drone mission and return to its core task as an airborne…
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zackary Cowher, Cyber Capabilities Developer Technician for Multi-Domain Command – Europe, uploads configuration files to an autonomous land-based vehicle equipped with a tethered UAS quadcopter during Arcane Thunder 26 at Fort Irwin, California, April 18, 2026. (Photo by Master Sgt. John Healy)

U.S. military gearing up for unmanned ground vehicle demo

The event, dubbed GroundBreaker 1, is slated for mid-October at Camp Grafton, North Dakota.
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U.S. Army Green Berets assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), survey the terrain during military mountaineering training as part of Exercise Diesel 26 at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Feb. 24, 2026. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Rhianna Ballenger)

SOCOM planning to test new mission autonomy software for unmanned systems program

The command plans to hold multiple events to assess industry solutions in the coming months, according to a special notice.
Members of the Air Force and Ohio Air National Guard look at laptops during field prototype testing evaluation for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Portable Command and Control Enclave (C2E). (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Shane Hughes).

Air Force conducts tests of CCA ground control system prototypes

The Command and Control Enclave (C2E) program is another new effort under development for the Air Force's robotic wingman platforms.
Scouts with the 4th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, fly a Rogue 1 drone by Teledyne FLIR Defense during Project Convergence Capstone 6 at Fort Irwin, California, July 22, 2026. (DefenseScoop photo by Drew F. Lawrence).

More reach, more to carry, more to learn: How soldiers wrestled with drones in the Mojave Desert

Project Convergence Capstone 6 produced lessons that soldiers measured in capability, reliability, weight and the oppressive desert conditions that pervaded all of it.
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