Pentagon Plans $450 Million Buy For Drone Dominance's 'More Complex' Phase 3 Competition

The Pentagon plans to commit about $450 million to purchases emerging from the third phase of its Drone Dominance competition. Phase 3 raises technical and operational complexity beyond earlier rounds, using competitive evaluation to identify systems that can be produced quickly and employed at meaningful scale. The planned amount signals a substantial acquisition opportunity, but the department had not yet named all winners, fixed the final mix or quantity of aircraft, or guaranteed that the entire ceiling would go to a single vendor or design.