7AUG

Gauntlet II confirmed for August 2026

1 min read

12:08UTC

The next competitive drone trial will test 50,000 to 60,000 drones against live electronic warfare. Vendors that fail the red team get eliminated.

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ConflictDeveloping

Key takeaway

Gauntlet II will eliminate drone vendors whose systems cannot survive electronic warfare.

The Pentagon confirmed Gauntlet II for August 2026 at an undisclosed location described as "brutally hot."⁠¹ The exercise will target procurement of 50,000 to 60,000 additional drones, with JIATF-401 running a live counter-UAS red team using GPS jamming, communications denial, and electronic warfare.

Phase I delivered 30,000 one-way attack drones from 11 vendors at roughly $5,000 per unit. Phase II raises the stakes: drones that cannot survive contested electromagnetic environments will be eliminated from the programme. The total target remains 300,000 or more drones by 2027 under a $1.1 billion budget. Two additional Gauntlets are planned beyond Phase II. Skycutter's 99.3/100 Gauntlet I score will mean nothing if its design cannot withstand active jamming.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

In August the Pentagon will hold a competition where it attacks participating drones with GPS jamming and communications disruption while trying to shoot them down with counter-drone systems. Drones that survive this electronic warfare gauntlet will be selected for bulk orders of 50,000 to 60,000 units. Drones that fail simply leave the programme. This is a significant escalation from Phase I, which tested basic performance. Phase II tests whether drones can actually operate in war conditions. Skycutter won Phase I with a near-perfect score, but that test did not include active electronic warfare.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Gauntlet II's EW survivability requirement will eliminate a significant proportion of Phase I qualifiers, concentrating procurement among a smaller number of technically advanced vendors.
Short term · High
Opportunity
Vendors that pass Gauntlet II gain preferred supplier status for up to 300,000 drones, representing a multi-year contract pipeline worth hundreds of millions.
Medium term · High
Precedent
The Gauntlet model, using live adversarial testing to down-select vendors, will become the standard for all US military drone procurement and will be adopted by allied nations.
Long term · Medium

Sources:Breaking Defense

Mentions:JIATF-401 →Pentagon →Drone Dominance →Gauntlet II →Gauntlet I →

First Reported In

Update #3 · Anduril wins $20 billion counter-drone deal

Breaking Defense· 30 Mar 2026

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Causes and effects

This Event

Gauntlet II confirmed for August 2026

Introduces survivability in contested electromagnetic environments as a hard filter for mass drone procurement.

Led to

LUCAS Enters Combat With Dozens in Stock

LUCAS's combat debut with 'dozens' against a 300,000-drone target set by Gauntlet accelerated urgency for mass production ahead of Gauntlet II.

Occurred 28 Feb 2026

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Lethality Prize feeds Gauntlet II cycle

Gauntlet II confirmation with its 50,000-60,000 drone Phase II target created the Lethality Prize Challenge as the payload qualification mechanism.

Occurred 14 Apr 2026

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Pentagon DAWG line jumps to $54.6bn

The Gauntlet II 50,000-60,000 drone target established the procurement scale that DAWG's $54.6B request is now sized to fund.

Occurred 21 Apr 2026

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Mountain Horse wins first Lethality Prize

Gauntlet II's August 2026 timeline and 50,000-drone target created the Lethality Prize programme whose first winner Mountain Horse Solutions is.

Occurred 29 Apr 2026

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Different Perspectives

Office for Budget Responsibility

The OBR's 28 October forecast assumed $82 oil for 2026 and 2027, from market prices for the ten working days to 19 August, and blamed dearer wholesale energy on the war without naming Iran. It expects CPI inflation close to 4% in early 2027 even at that price.

Hengaw, Kurdish rights group

Hengaw reported the 3 November hangings of Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi in Isfahan, saying Ebrahimi was tortured into confessing and that nine of 12 people sentenced to death in the case have now been hanged. Iran's judiciary holds that the defendants killed members of the security forces.

FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit

FINTRAC worked with the US Treasury on the 6 November designation of eight money services businesses in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Treasury says the businesses still operate, some under new names, so closing them falls to Ottawa.

Abdul Qadir al-Dakhil, Governor of Nineveh

Al-Dakhil cancelled three Mosul International Airport contracts on 7 November over alleged links to armed groups, after meeting Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in Baghdad. He named no group or company, and said the contracts will go to international companies.

Kuwait

Kuwait condemned the Houthi missile fired towards the Madinah region on 5 November and restated its support for Saudi Arabia, the Qatar News Agency reported. Its state tanker company, Kuwait Oil Tankers Company, is among the Gulf state fleets on Iran's expanded Hormuz list.

Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary

Treasury designated an alleged Chandigarh false-flag network on 4 November and eight Canadian exchangers on 6 November, while State sanctioned alleged MANPADS intermediaries. None of the actions touches an oil buyer; they target the paper, cash and procurement around Iran's trade.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.