Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones seen positioned on the tarmac at a base in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) operating area, Nov. 23, 2025. The LUCAS platforms are part of a one-way attack drone squadron CENTCOM recently deployed to the Middle East to strengthen regional security and deterrence. (Courtesy Photo)
Slaughter shares his journey from airman to startup founder trying to build the DOD's newest weapon system: software.
Mar 2, 2026
U.S. Army Cpl. Gabriel Miranda and Pfc. Haakon Hove, both with 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Border, prepare to report suspicious activity to U.S. Border Patrol, July 17, 2025, during a patrol along the southern border near El Paso, Texas. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Caleb Woodburn)
This is the second counter-UAS incident in less than a month that has revealed interagency turmoil over the employment of stateside anti-drone capabilities.
An unmanned aerial system hovers in the airspace above Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., during a Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) 401 counter-UAS (c-UAS) exercise Nov. 17-21, 2025. The exercise prepared military personnel to detect, identify, and neutralize such as those seen hovering. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Wesley Domalewski)
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bryen Z. Martinez, a military police officer, left, explains equipment used for C-UAS to Col. Dennis W. Sampson, center, the Officer in Charge of Expeditionary Operations Training Group II Marine Expeditionary Force, during a C-UAS demo at The Basic School on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Jan. 15, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Donovan E. Melendez)
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Lilly Sharma, a small unmanned aircraft system operator, with 12th Littoral Combat Team, 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, operates a Skydio X2D during a small unmanned aerial systems training (sUAS) on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, Nov. 6, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Robert Blanks)
While the military boosts already-established UAS roles and inter-service job transfers, multiple services have begun to put drones into the hands or on the minds of its…
A soldier assigned to 1st Cavalry Division uses a drone on the Hunter/Killer lane during the U.S. Army Best Drone Warfighter Competition on Feb. 18, 2026, in Huntsville, Alabama. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Michelle Lessard-Terry)
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Brian Kimani, a Kenya native, and a crew chief with Alpha Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, launches a RQ-20B Puma unmanned aircraft system during a gunnery qualification range on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Jan. 23, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Preston Morris).
In the request for information, officials wrote that the drone should be able to launch from stationary and mobile platforms, such as amphibious ships.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon, July 10, 2025. The event was hosted to portray 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)