Richard Thomas

The U.S. Capitol sits as a backdrop of the Evening Parade at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., July 10, 2026. The Honorable John L. Ratcliffe, director, Central Intelligence Agency, served as the guest of honor with U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James H. Adams, director, Defense Intelligence Agency, hosting the evening’s parade. Evening Parades at 8th & I reflect the legacy of Marines and the enduring standard of honor, courage, and commitment represented by Marines at the “Oldest Post of the Corps.” (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Christopher Prelle)
Air, Business News, Cyber, Military

The 30-Year-Old Procurement Law Behind the Pentagon’s Marketplace Push

By Richard Thomas

A Palantir protest over the Defense Intelligence Agency’s ASTRA solicitation highlights the continuing role of a 1994 federal procurement law…

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Zenoni, an unmanned aerial systems pilot and mechanic with the Marine Corps Drone Attack Team, pilots a small unmanned aircraft system during a drone demonstration at the Pentagon, July 10, 2025. The event was hosted to demonstrate the Secretary of Defense’s initiative of Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Alondra Y. Lopez Gonzalez)
Air, Military

The Pentagon’s New Drone Czar: How DRPM-UxS Pushes for Robotics Combatant Command

By Richard Thomas

A memo signed June 29 gives one office authority over nearly all U.S. military drone and counter-drone programs—arriving three weeks…

A tactical unmanned aircraft system operator with the Regimental Engineer Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment (2CR), leads a Soldier on how to use a soldering iron when assembling drones during a three-week build phase of the Purpose Built Attritable Systems on July 21, 2025, at Balli Army Airfield in Germany. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army by 1st Sgt. Luisito Brooks.
Air, Military, Sensors

Inside the Drone Dominance Supply Chain: What Every U.S. Drone Company Must Source—and by When

By Richard Thomas

Inside Unmanned Systems maps the Pentagon’s new component-level requirements across the NDAA, Blue UAS and Drone Dominance frameworks—showing where platforms…

A Soldier prepares a Neros Archer first-person-view drone for flight during new equipment training at the Fort Indiantown Gap Unmanned Aircraft System Training and Innovation Facility June 3, 2026, at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. The Archer is the first of eight drones the Soldiers at the TIF will receive training on so that they can train other Soldiers as part of the Drone Dominance Program. (Pennsylvania National Guard photo by Brad Rhen)
Air, Military

The Asymmetric Edge: Emil Michael Lays Out DoD’s AI Architecture at SOF Week

By Richard Thomas

The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering described a three-layer approach to embedding AI into warfighting — and…

U.S. Special Operations Forces, in collaboration with 10 partner nations, conducted a dynamic capabilities demonstration along the Tampa Bay waterfront that featured the future of special operations technology and tactical innovation. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Cutler Brice)
Air, Land, Maritime, Military

Two Minutes Instead of Days: Inside a SOF Week Demo of AI “Warfighting Agents”

By Richard Thomas

At SOF Week’s solution stage, a Vannevar Labs presentation titled “Mission-Ready AI: Accelerating Decisions with Agent Control Plane and Mission…

An autonomous surface vehicle from Osaka University in Japan enters the competition course during the Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored Maritime RobotX Challenge in Honolulu, Hawaii. U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams
Air, Land, Maritime, Military, Robotics

The Army Is Building Its Autonomy Enterprise From the Integration Up

By Richard Thomas

Activated in February, the Army’s new Capability Program Executive for Mission Autonomy is assembling an acquisition organization unlike any that…

An infantryman with the 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment (2CR), assembles a drone during a three-week build course of the Purpose Built Attritable Systems drones on August 7, 2025, at Balli Army Airfield, Germany. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army by Staff Sgt. Dylan Bailey.
Air, Military

Scaling What Works: Drone Dominance Moves from Demand Signal to Industrial Reality

By Richard Thomas

The XPONENTIAL keynote panel confronted the question the Drone Dominance Program answered first—and what it exposed in doing so. For…

This was 1-23 IN’s first infantry platoon-level live fire strike drone validation exercise conducted in support of the Department’s directive to achieve total drone dominance. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army by Sgt. Taylor Zacherl.
Air, Military

Gauntlet II: What the Drone Dominance Program Is Asking Industry to Do Next

By Richard Thomas

Program leadership laid out the structure, quantities, and competitive logic of Phase II at XPONENTIAL—and spent an hour in open…

A U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules aircraft assigned to the 123rd Airlift Wing, Kentucky Air National Guard, departs Karup Air Base, Denmark, June 8, 2026, for an airlift mission to Norway. Photo courtesy of U.S. Air National Guard by Lt. Col. Dale Greer and Merlin Labs.
Air

Merlin Labs: Bringing Autonomy to the Air Force’s Bread-and-Butter Fleet

By Richard Thomas

The U.S. Air Force’s autonomy future may rest less on next-generation platforms than on the 400 C-130Js and 300 KC-135s…

230503-N-GR718-1093 A West Coast-based Naval Special Warfare operator launches a Puma RQ-20, an unmanned, hand-launched, intelligence gathering aircraft system, from a combatant craft (assault) during U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned System Battle Problem (UxS IBP). UxS IBP 23 is a U.S. Pacific Fleet experiment, executed by U.S. 3rd Fleet, operationalizing multi-domain employment of unmanned systems to create Fleet warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chelsea D. Meiller)
Air, Business News, Military, Sensors

Inside PEO-TIS: SOCOM’s Tactical Information Systems Office

By Richard Thomas

At SOF Week 2026 in Tampa, the program managers of U.S. Special Operations Command’s Program Executive Office for Tactical Information…

A Skydio X2D Small Unmanned Aerial System drone is flown down the flight line at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Sept. 8, 2023. The SUAS drone, belonging to the 436th Mission Generation Group Continuous Process Improvement office, is used to provide aircraft over-the-wing and tail inspection capabilities, support facility inspections for the 436th Civil Engineer Squadron and situational awareness support for the 436th Security Forces Squadron and emergency management personnel. (U.S. Air Force photo by Roland Balik)
Air, Business News

The FCC’s New Role at the Center of the U.S. Drone Market

By Richard Thomas

A supply chain security framework that began with a sweeping December 2025 prohibition on foreign-produced UAS is now generating its…

A team of Department of Defense drone operators and experts test the technical capabilities of various Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) during a Defense Innovation Unit led prize challenge to identify platforms, components, and capabilities for Blue UAS, which clears and validates flying platforms are safe to fly, cyber-secure, and meet DOD requirements, at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, on Nov. 2-6, 2024. The Blue UAS Refresh Challenge included more than 35 platforms and companies, and an expert team of 40 military drone end-users with participation from each service branch and several major program offices in support of the Department’s ability to quickly scale and field commercially produced drone technologies for military and government use. (DOD photo by Devon Bistarkey, Defense Innovation Unit)
Air, Business News, Cyber, Military

FCC Opens Drone Comment Period as Covered List Takes Shape

By Richard Thomas

The Federal Communications Commission is soliciting public comment on a broad slate of regulatory reforms aimed at accelerating domestic unmanned…