The Department of Defense, seeing the tactics of warfare being redefined in Russia's war against Ukraine, understands the U.S. must evolve, strengthen and advance the American drone industrial base to keep up with the changing threats. The Threat Status team takes a deeper look at what the defense industry is doing to meet the demand to keep our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines equipped with the latest technology.
A U.S. industrial base built on complex precision weapons and solid rocket motors is starting to look elsewhere as modern conflicts demand high-volume, low-cost tools.
Unidentified drones were spotted hovering over Fort McNair, a military post in Washington that houses top Trump administration officials, the latest in a string of strange drone sightings near military sites worldwide.
The Army is investing heavily in a strategy that will team soldiers with autonomous drones on the battlefield, with the goal of leveraging next-generation technology to save American lives, the U.S. Army’s chief technology officer said in an exclusive interview.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems President Dave Alexander takes National Security Editor Guy Taylor inside the company’s Secure Advanced Manufacturing facilities in Poway, California, for a wide-ranging discussion on the history of the Reaper, Predator and Sky Guardian drones. (Feb. 12, 2026)
An internal Chinese military report has revealed that the People’s Liberation Army is placing a heavy emphasis on waging advanced air war using stealth, drones and high-technology weapons.
The Pentagon allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to use an anti-drone laser earlier this week, leading the Federal Aviation Administration to suddenly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.
U.S. Navy efforts to deploy large numbers of drone weapons advanced this week with the disclosure of a coming autonomous warship and a new undersea drone.
Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace, the Trump administration said, leading to the sudden closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday morning.
I’m Guillaume Ptak, Ukraine correspondent for the Washington Times. You are watching exclusive footage from my recent trip with a Ukrainian drone team on the Southeastern Front.
In a dusty basement somewhere along Ukraine’s southeastern front, Ukrainian team leader Ihor is sitting at a table, staring intently at a laptop. On the screen, there is an aerial view of a barren treeline demarcating two desolate, snow-covered fields. A man is cautiously moving among the leafless trees, an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder.
The Pentagon on Tuesday named the 25 U.S. defense manufacturers that will take part in the military’s $1 billion Drone Dominance Initiative.
SpaceX’s Starlink is working with Ukraine’s armed forces to counteract Russian drones using the satellite internet system to strike targets deep inside Ukrainian territory, a military-focused think tank says.
Video-confirmed drone kills are now responsible for 80% of Ukraine’s successful destruction of Russian targets, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Greece and Israel agreed Tuesday to collaborate on the development of anti-drone and cybersecurity systems, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias announced after meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Leonardo DRS Vice President of Business Development Charlene Caputo takes National Security Editor Guy Taylor inside a tactical expeditionary radar production facility for a look at how the company is delivering cost-effective solutions that integrate with the full range of command and control communications networks in an era of small drones, drone swarms and multitudinous missile threats. (Jan. 15, 2026)
The Department of Defense awarded two new contracts to acquire artificial intelligence-driven interceptor drones intended to help U.S. forces counter small, unmanned aerial systems, the first acquisitions as part of the second phase of the Pentagon’s Replicator program.
In August 1957, the Soviet Union successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.
U.S. allies are pushing to revolutionize how they evaluate and buy next-generation autonomous weapons.
The Drone Dominance Initiative, a $1 billion plan to have small, expendable drones built domestically, will close its first request for solutions Friday afternoon, as companies compete for a shot at long-term defense contracts and a chance to be part of an order for 30,000 of the devices the Pentagon is expected to place next month.
U.S. military spending on small drones has quadrupled since the war in Ukraine has shown how devastating the remote systems can be.
Russian authorities said Friday that the death toll from a Ukrainian drone strike they said struck a cafe in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine’s Kherson region rose to 27 people. Kyiv denied attacking civilian targets.
Russia released a video Wednesday showcasing a downed drone that authorities said was used in an attack on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend.
The CIA was responsible for a U.S.-led drone strike last week on a Venezuelan dock that President Trump said was involved in drug trafficking, according to media reports.
Russian drones blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa in an overnight attack that injured six people, including a toddler and two other children, officials said Wednesday.
The Trump administration sanctioned 10 companies and individuals based in Venezuela and Iran on Tuesday over both nations’ aggressive trade of ballistic missile and drone technology, as part of its campaign to exert maximum pressure on the countries.
Japan’s Cabinet on Friday signed off on the largest defense budget in the country’s history, with a drone-based coastal defense system and an arsenal of long-range strike munitions front and center.
The Navy launched its first one-way attack drone from the deck of a warship operating in the Middle East this week, marking what military officials said was a “significant milestone” in its ability to deliver a full range of unmanned combat power.
The Trump administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10 billion that includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, drawing an angry response from China.
Jon Rambeau, president of the Integrated Mission Systems segment at L3Harris Technologies, speaks with National Security Editor Guy Taylor at the 2025 Reagan National Defense Forum about the global proliferation of cheaper, faster, and more deadly drones — and the U.S. defense industry’s push to develop more effective counter-drone systems for American military forces and their allies.
General Dynamics Land Systems wants to turn its M1 Abrams main battle tank into a rolling launcher of kamikaze drones.
Unidentified drones were spotted above a French military intelligence base three times late last month, French authorities reported Tuesday.
It’s gone from science fiction to a matter of serious military planning in a remarkably short time.
The commander of sea-drone operations for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency says more complex strikes against Russian forces are expected next year, after Kyiv’s uncrewed fleet succeeded in curbing the movements of Russia’s once-dominant Black Sea navy.
President Trump may be the alleged drug boat destroyer, but he has a long way to go before he tops the drone warrior.
Information warfare, drone strikes and advanced weapons are becoming more lethal through artificial intelligence and will provide key advantages in a future war with China or other adversaries, the commander of the Indo-Pacific Command said Saturday.
U.S. Central Command on Wednesday announced the formation of a task force to set up the military’s first one-way attack drone squadron in the Middle East.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Tuesday inaugurated the country’s new federal police drone defense unit, which can be deployed across the country and “is equipped with the latest technology for smart drone defense.”
Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s — well, it’s been a year since the drone sightings over New Jersey and we still don’t quite know what it was all about.
Global demand for arms in an increasingly fractious world and an alarmingly depleted U.S. stockpile of long-range weapons are driving a dramatic surge in the American defense industry’s production of rockets and missiles.
When Olena Horlova leaves home or drives through town outside the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, she fears that she’s a target. She believes that Russian drones could be waiting on a rooftop, along the road or aiming for her car.
A pattern has become disturbingly familiar across Europe over the past few months: a surge of mysterious drone activity over NATO territory.
The secretive “Replicator” drone program, established by the Biden administration within the Defense Department’s leading tech-industry collaboration unit to accelerate the acquisition and deployment of unmanned systems to U.S. warfighters, has a new home under the U.S. Special Operations Command.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has joined the advisory board of Ukraine’s leading defense company, renowned for its long-range drones capable of striking targets deep inside Russia, as a corruption investigation continues.
The Pentagon’s secretive Replicator program isn’t about drones, at least not entirely. If it was, it’s fallen short of its goal.
