r/UMAC
DDP Announces 19 Companies Advancing to Gauntlet II
See announcements on https://dronedominance.mil/announcements.html
Department of War Establishes Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems
"This structural reorganization directly implements a series of decisive actions taken by the administration. Drones and autonomous systems represent the most consequential battlefield innovation of this generation,"
U.S. aerospace startup claims thousands of intercepts with Guardian drone
"Powerus, an autonomous systems company co-founded by former U.S. Army Special Operations veterans and headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, posted imagery of its Guardian interceptor on X on June 30, 2026, specifically linking the system’s capabilities to weekend strikes on Bahrain and naming the Shahed-136 and Geran-2 as the primary threats the platform is built to defeat."
New entrants round table
That's Soren Monroe-Anderson (Neros) to the left of Pete Hegseth. The meeting was last week.
$UMAC Counter‑Drone ‘Infinity’ Demand, 30M PowerUS Deal, and Scaling Pains at 250+ Employees
youtube.comLetter to Commissioner Scott on Chinese state-owned food company shipping drone hardware into the United States
Images are from Pat Harrigan.
White House Unveils President Trump’s America First Resilience Strategy
Second paragraph:
- "We are prioritizing American manufacturing and supply chains. We are bringing pharmaceutical production back home and lowering drug prices through Most-Favored-Nation agreements. We are unleashing the full potential of the United States commercial drone industry, creating new opportunities to increase safety, security, and innovative applications that make American technological superiority second to none."
The $210 Billion Push to Rebuild America’s Industrial Base
At least watch the first minute and a half.
Unusual Machines Expands Orlando Manufacturing Footprint to Support Battery Operations
The steroids into Upgrade Energy have been injected.
More than half of a US Army brigade's one-way drones were homemade
You know the drill. Salute the Abe 1.01.
2027 Draft NDAAs - Noteworthy Items
The House and the Senate have both published their drafts of the NDAA.
If you were following last year, you would have read the tea leaves 9 months before the WSJ audience.
I like to scan these because I think there is a lot of alpha to be found by seeing where the military is heading. I Ctrl+F my favorite words and read. This is what I found interesting:
1) Senate - Sec. 917 - RASCOM
I can’t believe barely anyone is talking about this. They are proposing to set up a new combatant command called RASCOM (Robotic and Autonomous Systems Command):
2) Senate - Sec. 1051 - Authority for Equity Investment by the OSC into Batteries
They are requesting authorization for OSC investments into BATTERIES. This aligns with what they've been saying. I see some comments asking about how these deals will be structured, feel free to read through this section and the following 2 to get an idea of how the OSC operates (ie, never own more than 50% of a Co., never take a board seat or voting power, when debt will be used, proposed dollar amounts, etc.)
3) House – Sec 334 – Standardization of Munitions for Unmanned Aircraft:
my 2c: I always felt this was the natural progression, if we want drone teams to be proficient they need to be able to build/repair their equipment in the field so there needs to be standardization. Unfortunately this feels like it will be RIP to many of the OEMs.
4) Senate - Sec. 1224. - US/Ukraine Strategic Defense Innovation Working Group
This section talks about how they plan to leverage the lessons and technologies gained from Ukraine, I expect to see a lot more US+Ukraine collaborations:
5) Senate - Sec 837 - Limiting Funds Until Reports Finished
I found this funny because it's a slap on the wrist for everyone to see, they want to take away funds until they can produce the reports required under Sec. 914 of the 2026 NDAA and Sec. 162 of the 2025 NDAA. Most of the people here follow Sec. 914 intently so it's nice to see that the Senate has r/UMAC's back.
6) Other Items
As you can imagine, the scope for unmanned systems for 2027 has ballooned, there are many other relevant sections that are tangentially related that you can read if you fancy:
House -
Sec. 111. Standards for networked, autonomous, kinetic capabilities to protect against small unmanned aircraft systems.
Sec. 165. Standards for common operating system for small unmanned aircraft systems.
Sec. 221. Requirement to establish test and training corridors for small unmanned aircraft systems and associated capabilities.
Sec. 1061. Integration of small unmanned aircraft systems and counter-unmanned aircraft systems training into initial, officer, and joint collective training.
Sec. 1089. Required doctrine on use of unmanned autonomous systems and autonomous formations. (includes language around batteries)
Sec. 1867. Briefing and report on Defense industrial base chokepoints and organic industrial base modernization. (includes language around batteries)
Senate -
Sec. 1045 - Assessing UAS threats for Military Installations and the Southern Border
Interesting item in the budget under R&D-
Closing Thoughts
I've been reading these documents bit by bit throughout the last week and everyday I find something new, so I know I'm bound to miss a lot, feel free to dig in and share what you find.
Please keep in mind these are drafts and will go through iterations; items will be added, removed, and changed. It is just a way to see which way the wind is going to blow.