Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (KTOS), Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (RCAT), and 23 other drone manufacturers are about to find out whether their technology can survive the ultimate customer review: actual warfighters putting their systems through combat scenarios.

The prize? A leading position in the War Department's Drone Dominance Program, a $1.1 billion acquisition initiative that's throwing out the old playbook for buying military hardware.

Rethinking How to Buy Drones

The Drone Dominance Program is the creation of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who has spent the past year tearing down traditional procurement barriers to get technology matched with battlefield threats faster. His July 2025 memorandum, "Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance," laid out a philosophy that sounds almost radical by defense acquisition standards: buy what actually works, buy it quickly, and let the people who'll use it make the call.

"Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race," Hegseth stated in the memo.

He doubled down on the urgency: "We are buying what works—fast, at scale, and without bureaucratic delay. Lethality will not be hindered by self imposed restrictions."

The goal is building what officials are calling "America's Arsenal of Freedom" by prioritizing rapid deployment of low-cost, unmanned one-way attack drones. Think less about perfection through endless testing, more about getting capable systems into the field while they're still relevant.

Fort Benning Gets Real

The competition kicks off February 18 with Phase 1, nicknamed "Gauntlet I." This isn't your typical trade show demo where sales teams control the equipment. At Fort Benning, military operators will take direct control of vendor systems, including those from Kratos SRE and Red Cat's subsidiary, Teal Drones. The people who'll actually fly these drones in combat situations get to decide what works and what doesn't.

When Gauntlet I wraps up in early March, the War Department plans to issue approximately $150 million in prototype delivery orders. The timeline gets even more aggressive from there: selected drones are expected to reach front lines within five months. That's a massive departure from the multi-year development cycles that have defined defense procurement for decades.

What Comes Next

As the Drone Dominance Program moves through its four phases, the War Department expects unit prices to fall while production volumes climb. It's a volume game with real stakes.

The military-grade drone industry is converging on Fort Benning, and the message from the War Department couldn't be clearer:

"The funding is ready and steady. The timeline to build combat power is compressed. The competition begins now."

For Kratos and Red Cat, the gauntlet isn't just a metaphor anymore. It's happening, and it starts next week.