Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany committed money to drones and drone defences without a public call for competition, and France ordered interceptors a day after its trials ended. Britain agreed to pay up to more than double its tender estimate once its Watchkeeper contest failed. From Tokyo to Taipei to Washington, the route a government picks to buy drones now decides which suppliers get paid.
Drone buyers now choose the buying route first, and the route decides which suppliers get paid.
Belgium's defence ministry spent €46.9m on V-BAT surveillance drones through a Belgian supplier, and put no quantity on the notice.
Belgium's defence ministry spent €46.9m on V-BAT (Shield AI's vertical take-off surveillance drone) without a public competition. An EU tender notice published on 7 September names Stellar Ordnance, a Belgian supplier, as the contractor and gives no quantity.
Rival makers saw the award only after Brussels had signed it. Belgium will now fly the same aircraft as the Dutch navy, which declared its 12 operational in March.
Britain's Watchkeeper successor went to Tekever without a contest after the tender drew no compliant bids, at more than double the ministry's estimate.
United StatesBritain's Ministry of Defence gave Tekever a contract worth up to £400m on 16 September for the AR5 drone, which replaces the army's Watchkeeper. Six aircraft come first.
FlightGlobal reported that the May competition drew no compliant bids, so the ministry negotiated with Tekever alone. Its tender had estimated the work at £130m to £156m before VAT (value added tax).
Pete Hegseth announced an Autonomous Warfare Command with its own buying power, targeted for October 2027 if Congress agrees.
United StatesUS Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on 30 September a new four-star Autonomous Warfare Command to run the military's drones and robots. Pentagon memos aim to set it up by 1 October 2027, if Congress agrees.
The command would hold its own budget and buying powers, like US Special Operations Command. Hegseth called two current efforts, Drone Dominance and a counter-drone task force, a good start but not enough.
A Pentagon counter-drone task force gave ten firms contract ceilings worth US$4.15bn to protect US bases from drones, with no orders yet published.
A Pentagon counter-drone task force added ten firms on 29 September to Domestic Shield, its programme to guard US military sites from drones. Their contract ceilings total US$4.15bn.
Ceilings set a maximum, and the firms must still compete for each order. DroneShield, an Australian winner, told investors its place on the contract guarantees no sales.
France's DGA ordered GOBI Zephyr interceptor drones from Harmattan AI a day after a two-month trial ended, with more tranches held in reserve.
France's arms procurement agency ordered its first Zephyr interceptor drones from Harmattan AI on 23 September, a day after trials ended. The first 50 reach French forces from October.
Each 2.2kg drone kills by ramming its target at up to 350km/h. Harmattan AI is a start-up less than two years old, not one of France's big missile makers.
Ukrainian brigades ordered more than 590,000 drones through Brave1 Market in nine months, paying with points earned for confirmed results.
Ukrainian frontline units ordered more than 590,000 drones through Brave1 Market, the state's online ordering platform, in the first nine months of 2026. Brigades pay with points earned for confirmed hits and other battlefield results.
The defence ministry has also approved 650 drone designs for state purchase this year. Fibre-optic models, which radio jammers cannot stop, account for 231 of them.
The Pentagon's contest for cheap attack drones named its winners and about 60,000 drones of orders, while the first round's deliveries ran about 60 per cent complete.
The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit named ten winners of its Gauntlet II attack-drone contest on 18 September, five in each of two categories. Officials put orders at about 60,000 drones.
Neros, the only firm on both lists, then announced a 14,000-drone order. Suppliers from the first round had delivered about three in five of the drones ordered from them by late August.
The Netherlands gave Elbit's Elisra unit a contract for six interceptor drones and entered its value as zero, then signed up for an Australian laser.
The Netherlands bought six interceptor drones from Elisra, Elbit Systems' electronic-warfare arm, so its Redrone counter-drone system can destroy targets as well as hijack them. A tender notice published on 4 September lists the price as zero.
On 24 September the Dutch signed a non-binding letter with Electro Optic Systems. It covers co-developing a 100-kilowatt laser and perhaps building it in the Netherlands.
America's new drone tariff drops to 10 or 15 per cent for allies, but only for drones whose critical parts are allied too.
US Customs began collecting new drone tariffs on 3 September. British drones pay at most 10 per cent, and drones from Japan, the EU and four other partners at most 15 per cent.
Those caps hold only if the critical parts inside are also allied. From 13 October a separate FCC (Federal Communications Commission) rule also blocks approval of devices with control chips made by firms on its security list.
Japan's defence ministry asked for 292.2 billion yen to buy 17 SeaGuardian drones, four times this year's purchase, and its first interceptor-drone line.
Japan's defence ministry asked on 31 August for money to buy 17 American-built SeaGuardian drones in its 2027 fiscal year, up from four this year. These large drones watch sea lanes for more than a day at a time.
The request also funds Japan's first interceptor-drone line. Terra Drone, a Tokyo-listed maker, says its Terra B1 was the only interceptor to pass the government's trial.
Taiwan's opposition-controlled legislature rejected the Cabinet's special drone budget and passed its own act setting a NT$40bn-a-year baseline instead.
TaiwanTaiwan's opposition-led legislature passed a law on 27 August setting a baseline, in principle, of NT$40bn a year for six years for uncrewed systems. It threw out the Cabinet's NT$210bn special drone budget the same day.
The Cabinet voiced deep regret but agreed to fund the law. Taiwanese drone makers get a legal preference, while lawmakers now approve the money one year at a time.
The EU Council named DECODER among its first five Defence Projects of Common Interest, with Ukraine taking part in four of the five.
EU defence ministers named DECODER (Drone and Counter-Drone European Resolve) as a joint project on 28 September. It is one of the first five eligible for money from the EU's €1.5bn arms-production fund. Ukraine and Norway take part.
Brussels has set aside €325m for all five projects together. National budgets will carry most of DECODER's cost, with EU money as a top-up.
Ondas Holdings bought an Israeli fuze maker and its Polish affiliate, gaining a plant that can sell into Europe outside US arms-export rules.
Ondas Holdings, a US drone and counter-drone group, bought GATE (GATE Technologies, an Israeli fuze maker) and its Polish affiliate Bron on 14 September. Its fact sheet values the deal at US$205m, plus up to US$185m in share earn-outs.
GATE's devices control when a loitering munition can explode. Bron's plant in Poland could let European buyers take them without a US export licence.
Denmark's procurement agency cited an acute need to buy anti-drone shotguns and ammunition directly, then ordered more Weibel radars a week later.
Denmark's defence procurement agency plans to buy €13.3m of military anti-drone shotguns and matching ammunition from a Danish firm without competition. Its notice of 15 September cites an acute need.
On 22 September the same agency ordered more radars from Weibel Scientific, another Danish company. Copenhagen is now sourcing both detection and the final close-range kill from domestic suppliers.
South Korea approved a 2.16 trillion won, ten-year research programme for a vertical take-off drone to replace the army's RQ-102K.
South Korea approved a 2.16 trillion won programme on 15 September to develop a reconnaissance drone that takes off vertically. It will replace the army's fixed-wing RQ-102K, with work running from 2027 to 2036.
The arms agency says the new drone should improve aerial surveillance more than fourfold and reach 30 per cent farther. Seoul chose to develop it at home rather than buy one abroad.
Germany's Bundespolizei bought drone detection and defeat equipment from an Austrian and a British firm, with no competition and no published value.
Germany's federal police bought kit to detect and stop drones from EW Drone Passion of Austria and SteelRock Technologies of Britain. Two EU award notices published on 10 September show no competition and no price.
The Interior Ministry's procurement office placed the order, not the armed forces. It went to two small foreign suppliers rather than to German defence groups such as Rheinmetall or Hensoldt.
Up, on a dated path. The FCC component rule on 13 October 2026 would make Covered List parts a bar to US certification, and Annex III duties on 9 February 2027 close the interim duty-free lane for onshoring plans, each forcing allied makers to re-source before they can sell in the US. On spending, AUTOWARCOM needs Congress before its 1 October 2027 target: if the fiscal 2027 defence bills grant service-like authorities, the US gains a single drone buyer with its own budget; if they do not, the money stays split across Drone Dominance, JIATF-401 and DIU's Gauntlet rounds.
