Lethal Autonomous Weapons & Combat Drones Watch Thread

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Army Sets Out to Buy a Million Drones By 2028
By Joseph Trevithick
November 7, 2025

Introduction:

(The War Zone) The U.S. Army has set a goal of buying one million new drones of all types over the next two to three years. This comes as senior officials within the service have acknowledged that it continues to lag behind global trends when it comes to fielding uncrewed aerial systems, especially weaponized types within smaller units. The Army’s planned drone shopping spree could also include large numbers of longer-range one-way attack types, something TWZ laid out a detailed case for doing just a few months ago.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll talked about his service’s new drone acquisition plans in a recent phone interview with Reuters from Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. The service also hopes the purchases will foster an industrial base that can churn out uncrewed aerial systems at similarly high rates for years to come.

“We expect to purchase at least a million drones within the next two to three years,” Driscoll told Reuters. “And we expect that at the end of one or two years from today, we will know that in a moment of conflict, we will be able to activate a supply chain that is robust enough and deep enough that we could activate to manufacture however many drones we would need.”

Read more here: https://www.twz.com/air/army-sets-out- ... s-by-2028

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Anduril's pilotless fighter jet completes its first test flight
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
November 15, 2025

A few days ago, California-based defense tech firm Anduril concluded the first test flights of its semi-autonomous Fury fighter jet without a pilot in the cockpit. Oh wait, there's actually no cockpit in there at all.

The company's major milestone, which it's achieved in just 556 days since it began work designing the aircraft, will see it join the race to become the leader in uncrewed aviation. Another defense contractor called General Atomics is also in the running with its experimental XQ-67A platform, and China is believed to be making great strides with pilotless planes too.

Back in September 2023, the company had acquired a small North Carolina-based firm called Blue Force Technologies which had initially developed the Fury aircraft. Anduril itself, meanwhile, has built a software platform for command and control of autonomous planes. With these coming together, the YFQ-44A test jet began its test flight program on October 31.

https://newatlas.com/military/fury-figh ... st-flight/

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WSJ- ‘We Do Fail … a Lot’: Defense Startup Anduril Hits Setbacks With Weapons Tech

https://archive.ph/nqlr6

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I came across this blog written by Richard Fox recently posted at Future Timeline:

https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/202 ... rones.htm

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Ukraine Says It Just Carried Out the First-ever Underwater Drone Strike on a Russian Submarine
By Jake Epstein
December 15, 2025

Introduction:

(Business Insider) Ukraine carried out a first-of-its-kind attack on a Russian submarine using underwater drones, Kyiv said on Monday, revealing a new use for its explosive-packed uncrewed systems.

The Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, said it executed a "unique special operation" using an underwater drone to strike a Russian Kilo-class submarine at the Black Sea port Novorossiysk, damaging and disabling the boat.

The SBU, Ukraine's main internal security agency, disclosed that the attack involved the employment of its "Sub Sea Baby" drones, which appear to be an underwater version of the Sea Baby naval drone Ukraine uses to target Russian surface vessels and port infrastructure.

The SBU said in a statement that the submarine was equipped with four launchers for Kalibr cruise missiles, which Russia regularly fires at Ukrainian cities.

The security agency did not specify when the operation took place, but it said it was carried out in coordination with the Ukrainian navy. The SBU published footage that appears to show the moment the underwater drone impacted the submarine, causing a large explosion.

Read more here: [url] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/uk ... aae&ei=169 [/url

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Congress Should Review an Autonomous Weapons Deal Between UAE and US Companies
By Mohamed Suliman
December 23, 2025

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) In December 2025, a joint venture was announced between EDGE, the leading Emirati advanced technology and defense conglomerate comprising 25 companies involved in military and civilian products and technologies, and Anduril Industries, an American defense company specializing in the development of advanced autonomous systems. The first product envisioned under this joint venture is Omen, a newly developed hover-to-cruise Autonomous Air Vehicle, or AAV. According to the terms of the agreement, the UAE will acquire the first 50 units of Omen.

There is, however, a serious concern that these autonomous weapons could end up in the arms of the UAE-backed militia and regimes in the Middle East, which would fuel ongoing wars and cause great harm.

Additional Extract:

Recently, the UAE started to use Wagner and other Russian militia in its operations in Africa, for instance, in September 2024, it used Wagner to funnel arms to its RSF ally. The UAE also supported the Central Republic of Africa to pay the cost of hiring the Russian Atlas Corps to defend the government. And in November 2020, a report by the Pentagon mentioned that he UAE funded Wagner in Libya. Given these growing ties, it is legitimate to consider a scenario where these advanced autonomous systems could be leaked to Russian mercenary groups at any point in the future, which indeed represents a serious threat to US security and its interests in Africa.

Conclusion:

When thinking about this deal, we have to take into consideration that the UAE isn’t a democratic country. It’s ruled by a single family, with no parliament to review decisions made concerning wars. Hence, it can’t be trusted by any measure to act responsibly if it owns this advanced technology.

Congress must take this issue seriously and review this deal. Ideally, an oversight mechanism should be established to ensure that these autonomous weapons and drones will not reach outlaw military militias and rogue regimes and be part of subverting countries and jeopardizing the US long-term interests.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/uae-weapons-deal

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Putin Publicly Acknowledges Ukraine’s Edge in Surprise Statement
By Kateryna Serohina
December 26 , 2025

Introduction:

(MSN) Russia has acknowledged falling behind in the field of heavy drones amid Ukraine’s active use of such technologies. In response to this gap, the Russian military has begun developing new platforms for cargo transport and potentially strike missions, according to a Defense Express report.

During a recent televised Direct Line event, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that Russia’s forces lag behind Ukraine in the number of so-called Baba Yaga-type drones.

According to him, the enemy holds an advantage in this segment, putting pressure on the Russian army and driving the development of new technologies to close the gap.

New heavy drone developments

The company Dronax has announced work on heavy transport drones capable of carrying payloads of up to 100 kilograms.

Company representatives say the new platforms will allow Russian forces to cover new operational scenarios involving the transport of especially large loads.

Read more here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/p ... 14400&ei=

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Did The U.S. Use Kamikaze Drones to Strike Venezuela?
By Joseph Trevithick
January 5, 2026

Introduction:

(The War Zone) Multiple video clips offer strong evidence that kamikaze drones were among the capabilities the U.S. military brought to bear during the operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. This may have been the first real-world use of a new slate of U.S. long-range one-way attack drones and loitering munitions. After years of being outpaced by lower-end drone developments overseas, there is now a significant new push across America’s armed forces, and the special operations community in particular, to dramatically step up the acquisition and fielding of various tiers of uncrewed one-way strike aircraft.

Read more here: https://www.twz.com/air/u-s-kamikaze-d ... enezuela

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Autonomous helicopter built to hunt submarines takes first flight
By David Szondy
January 20, 2026

The Royal Navy highlighted its Hybrid Air Wing and Atlantic Bastion strategy as Leonardo’s full-scale Proteus autonomous helicopter completed its maiden flight on January 16, marking a key step toward mixed crewed and uncrewed operations.

With the changing geopolitical situation and a global rearmament campaign to respond to it, drones and other autonomous systems are becoming a major component of the world's militaries. Case in point is Britain's policy based on the 2025 Strategic Defence Review published last June. According to this, the strategy going forward will be for the Royal Navy to convert to a high-low mix of conventional crewed ships, submarines, and aircraft combined with autonomous ones.

A key element of this is the Atlantic Bastion program, which introduces a new dedicated undersea warfare strategy where conventional anti-submarine fleets are greatly supplemented by uncrewed hunters on the surface, underwater, and in the air to create a digital targeting web to track any and all submarine traffic in the Atlantic, North Sea, and Arctic regions.

https://newatlas.com/military/royal-nav ... elicopter/

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Autonomous MQ-20 Avenger aces simulated air-to-air kill
By David Szondy
January 26, 2026

https://newatlas.com/military/general-a ... -intercept

The software and hardware that will control tomorrow's combat drones got a workout on January 18, as a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger showed off its capability by autonomously intercepting a crewed aggressor aircraft in an air combat exercise.

The world's air forces and navies are betting heavily on combat drones in the near future. The tricky bit is getting them to actually work. The airframes are relatively far along because drones have been flying by remote control ever since some clever clock decided to install radios in planes, but what's needed today are the sensor kits and software that will allow a robotic drone to engage hostile aircraft with minimal human oversight.

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British Army aims to pair Apaches with autonomous wingman drones
By David Szondy
February 03, 2026
https://newatlas.com/military/british-a ... elicopter/

The British Army is pushing the concept of the Loyal Wingman combat drone into new territory as Project NYX, with the help of seven industry partners, looks to develop a rotary drone that can work in concert with the Apache AH-64E attack helicopter.

The Loyal Wingman concept began as a way to develop drones with the flight performance of a fighter plane. The ultimate goal is to greatly magnify the capability of fighters by providing additional autonomous aircraft that can fly themselves, respond to high-level commands instead of being remote controlled, and plan and carry out mission objectives.

That's already an impressive achievement – especially when the fighter in question is something like an F-35 Lightning II or the 6th-Generation planes now on the drawing boards, but Project NYX is taking things to the next level.

It's one thing to build and program a combat drone that flies at altitude. It's another where the drone is a helicopter that's made to jink about at or below treetop level while conducting stealth missions that are often deep behind enemy lines, and engaging in high-speed maneuvers marked by fast turns and split-second decisions.[/quote]

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FAA Halted Flights at El Paso Airport Over Concerns Concerning Drone Attacks
By Leslie Josephs
February 11, 2026

Introduction:

(CNBC)

• The FAA abruptly halted all flights at El Paso International Airport in south Texas for 10 days and then lifted the order on Wednesday, hours later.
• The FAA cited “security” reasons for the flight ban, and some Democratic lawmakers pushed for answers on the sudden changes.
• The Trump administration said it disabled Mexican cartel drones that had breached U.S. airspace

Read more here: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/faa-el ... opilot.com

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Counter-drone Technologies are Evolving – but There’s No Surefire Way to Defend Against Drone Attacks
By Jamey Jacob
February 12, 2026

Introduction:

(The Conversatiom) When the Federal Aviation Administration closed the airport in El Paso, Texas, and the airspace around it on Feb. 10, 2026, the cause was, ironically, the nearby use of a technology that could be key to keeping airports and airspace open and safe.

According to news reports, Customs and Border Protection officials used a Department of Defense anti-drone laser weapon to target what they identified as a drone crossing the border from Mexico. The FAA closed the El Paso airport and airspace out of concern that the weapon inadvertently posed a threat to air traffic in the area.

The targeted drone turned out to be a party balloon, though U.S. officials claim that drug cartels based in Mexico have flown drones at the U.S.-Mexico border. The episode highlights the need for counter-drone technologies, the state-of-the-art systems used by the U.S. military, and the challenges to safely and effectively countering drones, which are also known as uncrewed aircraft systems.

I am an aerospace engineer and director of the Counter-UAS Center of Excellence at Oklahoma State University, where we develop and evaluate technologies to detect, identify and counter drone threats. The military laser weapon CBP that personnel used near El Paso is an example of one of three categories of counter-drone technologies: directed energy weapons. The other two are radio frequency jamming and kinetic, or physical, weapons like missiles and nets.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/counter-dr ... s-229595