A new order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth includes several directives aimed at facilitating “rapid proliferation” of small uncrewed aerial systems across every military unit.
The “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance” memo, issued in alignment with President Trump’s early June executive order on American-manufactured drones, allows O-6 commanders and equivalently ranking individuals to grant authority to operate (ATO) agreements, along with the ability to procure, test and train with small drones compliant with statutory limitations and nominate critical small drones and components manufactured in the United States for priority review for inclusion on the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue List.
The Blue List — which DIU has managed and for now, still does — is a list of Defense Department-approved drones, software and components. However, the memo also directs the innovation arm to “transfer publication and maintenance of the Blue List” to the Defense Contract Management Agency by 2026.
The order comes just over a month after DIU started a search for third-party evaluators to facilitate part of its new drone vetting process under an overhauled Blue List initiative announced in May.
The Blue List, with its transition to DCMA, will “become a digital platform that will continuously update an aggregate list of all certified UAS parts and systems, those with follow-up requirements, the latest user ratings and all vendors approved” to certify drone parts and systems for the list.
The memo also calls for changes to the Pentagon’s drone requirement policy, starting with a directive for the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman to “immediately revise” the “Joint Unmanned Aircraft Systems Minimum Training Standards” to exclude Group 1 and Group 2 UAS.
“Group 1-2 UAS operator training and qualifications depend on mission requirements,” Hegseth wrote, “and are hereby delegated to the Military Departments.”
Additionally, Pentagon agencies not under military service department purview will follow standards established by the Army secretary.
Hegseth is also doubling down on the Pentagon’s legal requirement to commit to commercial-first procurement.
“The Department expects operational commands to prefer commercial U.S. systems that include digital twins or high-fidelity simulations that allow units to train personnel more rapidly and cost-effectively,” he wrote.
The memo also requires all military services to establish “deliberately screened, active-duty experimental formations” by September, built to rapidly scale small drone delivery across the Joint Force by 2026 and with priority initial fielding to units at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
Each military service will also stand up program offices solely focused on drones, with an immediate priority toward small drones, which would “compete to determine best practices in rapid acquisition and industry engagement with operational units,” Hegseth wrote, adding that “drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race.”
Within 60 days, military department secretaries are also required to identify programs that would be “more cost-effective or lethal” if replaced by uncrewed aerial systems.
“Our adversaries have a head start in small UAS, but we will perform a technological leapfrog,” Hegseth wrote, “and establish small UAS domain dominance by the end of 2027.”
Originally published Inside Defense