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Drones: Industry & Defence
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Two Ukrainian firms enter Pentagon gauntlet

2 min read
16:38UTC

Two Ukrainian drone makers joined the Pentagon's Drone Dominance Phase 2 field, one partnering Phase 1 leader Skycutter, as Stage 1 opens at Camp Grayling, Michigan.

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TechnologyDeveloping

Two Ukrainian drone manufacturers entered the field for the Pentagon Drone Dominance Phase 2 Gauntlet, confirmed on 3 June, with one named as a partner of Phase 1 leader Skycutter 1. Drone Dominance is the Pentagon's $1.1bn programme to buy more than 300,000 one-way attack drones by 2027; the Gauntlet is its competitive proving ground, with Stage 1 at Camp Grayling, Michigan.

Skycutter, the London-based startup, won Phase 1 outright flying a Ukrainian-built Shrike 10 Fibre FPV (first-person-view) drone. The two new Ukrainian entrants extend that combat lineage directly into the US field. They arrive as the programme stops looking startup-only: Northrop Grumman was named a preferred payload provider in May, tasked with arming the FPV fleet .

Northrop's payload role reshapes what a startup win is worth, because whoever defines the common payload shapes every airframe that follows, regardless of who builds it. For the Ukrainian firms, the question is whether competing inside the programme secures a procurement foothold that survives a future ceasefire, or whether the primes integrate them on the primes' terms.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

The Pentagon is running a competition called Drone Dominance to find the best attack drones for the US military. Phase 1 was won by a company called Skycutter, a London startup that used a Ukrainian-built drone platform. In Phase 2, the competition has expanded and now includes two Ukrainian companies directly. Stage 1 of Phase 2 runs 8-20 June at a military training base in Michigan called Camp Grayling. The drones are tested on realistic combat tasks. Whatever performs best at the lowest cost gets large procurement orders. The Ukrainian companies are competing alongside American firms and FPV racing specialists who have adapted their skills from the sport.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Two Ukrainian firms entering the Phase 2 field reflects a structural change in how the Pentagon perceives combat-validated foreign entrants. Phase 1's acceptance of Skycutter, a London-based firm using a Ukrainian-built platform, normalised the precedent. The Gauntlet's programme structure, administered by Joint Interagency Task Force 401, does not require US-origin hardware, only performance and security-of-supply assurances.

Skycutter's partnership with one of the Ukrainian entrants accelerates the integration: the Ukrainian firm brings combat-hardened FPV design experience while Skycutter provides the US regulatory familiarity and procurement relationships acquired in Phase 1.

Sources:Federal Register·Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China·US Department of War
Mentions:Ukraine →Pentagon →United States →Northrop Grumman →Michigan →London →Neros →Camp Grayling →Drone Dominance →Skycutter →
First Reported In

Update #11 · Ukraine starts exporting the factory

Federal Register· 7 Jun 2026
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Causes and effects
Caused by
Northrop banks two drone awards in one week
Northrop Grumman's payload-standard award (ID:3515) established the heritage-prime presence in Drone Dominance that frames two Ukrainian firms competing in Phase 2.
Occurred 18 May 2026
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This Event
Two Ukrainian firms enter Pentagon gauntlet
Ukrainian combat-iterated designs are now competing inside a flagship US procurement programme, not just supplying it from outside.
Led to
Pentagon orders 120 drones in five weeks
Skycutter's June Phase 2 entry alongside Ukrainian firms carried through to the final-stage cut.
Occurred 1 Jul 2026
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Different Perspectives
South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration
South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration
DAPA folded drone and roadside-bomb jammers into an 18-year, KRW 3.448 trillion K2 tank upgrade approved 11 August, rather than fund counter-drone kit as its own programme. Seoul is treating the threat as permanent enough to write into a platform's lifecycle, not urgent enough to buy ahead of it.
NATO Support and Procurement Agency
NATO Support and Procurement Agency
NSPA named five pre-qualified counter-drone suppliers under new framework contracts on 27 July, giving allies a purchasing route with no published budget attached. A framework without committed money is an instrument waiting for a spending decision, not a guarantee one is coming.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defence
Ukraine's Ministry of Defence
Ukraine's forces strike with more than 70 AI and computer-vision systems drawn from over 200 domestic producers, the ministry said on 18 August, a supplier base neither Washington's tariff fight nor Beijing's export licence touches. Kyiv is scaling capability faster than either government is writing rules for it.
A European drone-component manufacturer
A European drone-component manufacturer
A European manufacturer selling components into the United States faces the same 100 per cent tariff and 3 September deadline as any other foreign supplier, with the duty-free onshoring carve-out available only to firms building on American soil. That leaves it to absorb the cost, relocate assembly, or cede the US market rather than shop around a rival supply chain.
Chinese drone component exporters
Chinese drone component exporters
Exporters now need a case-by-case licence for each US-bound dual-use shipment after MOFCOM's 5 August order, with no published review clock. The same week Shenzhen logged nearly 200,000 domestic logistics-drone sorties and Hunan reported record spraying coverage, a home market large enough to absorb what the licence regime slows from leaving the country.
US drone manufacturers
US drone manufacturers
The onshoring carve-out protects Performance Drone Works' $820 million War Department loan, but the same 3 September deadline hits Red Cat Holdings and Unusual Machines, both filing over 500 per cent revenue growth on 6 August, on Chinese-sourced components with no qualified domestic substitute yet.