AUTOWAR25 Afternoon Edition
1. Starshield cap: bipartisan senators ask the DoD IG to investigate; Trump denies ordering it
A bipartisan group of senators led by Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis asked the Defense Department Inspector General to investigate the Oct. 12–14 Starlink/Starshield speed restrictions in Ukraine, as President Trump denied the White House ordered them and Zelenskyy said service is still not fully restored.
- Letter to DoD IG Platte Moring asks whether DoD or its contractors caused the curbs and requests a status update by Nov. 1; co-signers include Collins, Reed, Cornyn, Durbin, Coons, Murkowski and Blumenthal.
- Trump on Friday: "it wasn't me, and I don't think it was Elon"; Reuters sources (via Defense News) say the order came from inside the White House.
- Zelenskyy in Brussels: speed "being restored now" but not back to prior levels; the ~160 km/h (100 mph) cap cut connectivity for faster drones.
2. F-22 pilot "quarterbacks" a YFQ-44A CCA in flight
The Department of the Air Force said an F-22 pilot issued high-level tactical directives to a single YFQ-44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft earlier this month, with onboard autonomy executing maneuvers and simulated combat tasks in real time.
- Involved the 412th Test Wing, 422nd TES, 309th Software Engineering Group and the CCA Software Autonomy and Teaming Branch.
- Data feeds software integration, developmental testing and future CCA concepts.
- Air Force goal restated: 500 combat-ready semi-autonomous systems by 2032, 1,000 overall.
Sources: Air Force (AFNS via AFRC)3. Black Sea drone strikes: Bulgaria formally asks NATO for jets and counter-drone systems
Bulgarian Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said Friday that Sofia has formally asked NATO's Secretary General and SACEUR for combat aircraft and anti-drone systems after drone attacks on commercial shipping; a NATO official said ambassadors will take it up next week.
- Follows drone hits on two tankers off Romania this week and a vessel sunk off Bulgaria on Tuesday; Sofia summoned Russia's ambassador.
- Bulgaria has proposed a moratorium on attacks on civilian ships and expects to join a NATO anti-drone initiative by end-October.
- North Atlantic Council discussion expected at the regular ambassadors' meeting in Brussels next week.
Sources: Defense News / Reuters · France 244. DOT, DoW and DHS impose a drone flight restriction along the southern border
A temporary flight restriction effective Oct. 16 bars unauthorized drone flights from the surface to 400 ft within one nautical mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Joint DOT/Department of War/DHS action framed around border security operations and cartel activity.
- FAA will publish a NOTAM linking the Domestic Notice and UAS Data Delivery System.
Sources: FAA5. Air Combat Command explores "Counter-sUAS as a Service" for base defense
ACC's sources-sought notice FA4890-261013, "Air Combat Command (ACC) Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft System (C-sUAS) as a Service," seeks contractor-owned, contractor-operated point defense for air bases.
- Initial prototype at two CONUS installations, with options to scale across ACC.
- Detect/track/ID up to Group 3 threats (Shahed-class) out to ~5 miles; kinetic and non-kinetic effectors including RF, laser and HPM; 96-hour self-sufficiency.
- Responses due Oct. 31.
Sources: Air & Space Forces Magazine · SAM Directory listing6. EDA: drones can navigate over land without satellite signals
A European Defence Agency-funded project (USESXI) showed during REPMUS 2026 in Portugal that a fused multi-source navigation system kept a UAS close to its true position over land without GNSS.
- Tested on a commercially available drone already in Spanish Army service.
- Next step: mature it into a complete system meeting operational standards.
Sources: European Defence Agency7. UK will "see what lessons apply" from the U.S. Autonomous Warfare Command
In a House of Lords written answer, Defence Minister Lord Coaker said the UK will engage closely with the U.S. as it stands up AUTOWARCOM but stopped short of promising a UK equivalent.
- Cites the Uncrewed Systems Centre and Rapid AI Delivery (RAID) taskforce.
- Over £5 billion committed by 2030 for autonomous systems, including Hybrid Navy, UGVs and CCA, "while retaining appropriate human responsibility and accountability."
Sources: UK Defence Journal8. Bundestag clears funding for net-launching counter-drone UAVs
Germany's budget committee approved net-launching UAVs (alongside Patriot replacements) to counter mini and micro drones, the BMVg announced.
- BMVg says net-launchers paired with jammers and detection radars work even in urban areas.
- Rapid-reaction counter-UAV elements now exist in all Bundeswehr branches and have supported Belgium and Denmark.
Sources: Janes9. Daytime Russian drone strikes kill three, briefly cut power to over 1 million Ukrainians
Reuters reports Russian drones killed at least three people Friday, hit shopping centres in Sumy and Rivne, and knocked out power to more than 1 million people before crews restored supply.
- Two killed, 12 wounded in Kharkiv; one killed at a Volyn food-processing site; Lutsk blackout could last 24+ hours.
- Attacks continued through the day, hitting a customs terminal and burning about 10 trucks in Kovel on the Kyiv–Poland route.
Sources: Reuters via ThePrint10. NATO ACT and Ukraine build an AI model to predict enemy drone strikes
The NATO-Ukraine JATEC center presented "Model No.13," an AI tool forecasting the type, timing, location and intensity of enemy UAV attacks, plus "Model No.32" for artillery planning.
- Uses historical data, weather and battlefield situation; MoD says No.13 is ready for integration into Ukrainian situational-awareness systems.
- Context: Ukraine says it intercepted 4,700+ long-range drones and missiles and neutralized 48,000+ tactical UAVs in September.
Sources: Janes11. Marines open "Humans vs Machine" wargame tournament against an adaptive AI
MARADMIN 494/26 announces the MCU FIGHT CLUB "Mindgame" tournament, pitting service and allied personnel against an adaptive AI opponent in carrier-strike-group and drone-swarm scenarios.
- Applications close Nov. 14, 2026; play runs Dec. 1, 2026 to April 1, 2027.
Sources: Marines.mil · DefenseScoop12. Royal Navy Wildcat defends French strike group against uncrewed threats in Exercise Wildfire
An 815 NAS Wildcat used Martlet missiles in live engagements against uncrewed aerial and surface threats during a five-day exercise with the French Strike Group off Toulon.
- First test of France's Rampart system from an amphibious assault ship; interceptor drones also tested against drones and surface vessels.
Sources: Royal Navy13. Hormuz: ship attack reports hit a weekly record as Iran widens its drone campaign
BBC Verify analysis of UKMTO data finds 12 vessels reported attacks Oct. 5–11, the most in a week since the US-Israeli war with Iran began.
- Petro Dolphin was struck by a drone near Oman's Sohar anchorage, 250+ km from the strait; strikes reported off Qatar and the UAE.
- Flows fell to ~12.6M barrels/day on Oct. 13 (Kpler) as U.S.-escorted transits rose.
Sources: BBC14. Germany drops direct MQ-28 Ghost Bat buy; CCA timeline slips
Boeing told Breaking Defense the German MoD has said it won't directly procure the MQ-28, with Politico reporting the capability will wait until the early 2030s and tests start in 2027.
- Helsing CA-1 Europa and Airbus/Kratos U740 Valkyrie (first flight announced Monday) are likely contenders; GA-ASI's Gambit is also in the mix.
Sources: Breaking Defense15. "StarGate": Ukraine trials a heavy-lift drone for casualty evacuation
AP got an exclusive look at SkyFall's StarGate, Ukraine's first aerial drone built to fly a wounded soldier on a stretcher off the front line, now in brigade testing.
- Up to 150 kg payload, ~15 km one way; Starlink/L-Link comms plus AI navigation under GPS jamming.
- Results still pending; evaluation expected to take at least a month.
Sources: AP · Censor.NET16. Ukraine abandons the energy truce and drone-strikes Rosneft's Ryazan refinery
Zelenskyy told the FT "The block is out. We're done" on refinery strikes, and Ukrainian drones set fire to the Ryazan refinery, which handles nearly 5% of Russian throughput.
- Russian reports say the CDU-6 primary unit halted after the attack.
- Deepens the rift with Washington alongside the Starshield dispute (#1).
Sources: USA Today / Reuters · AP17. Navy USV with the Theodore Roosevelt CSG: still no official model ID
DefenseScoop reports the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group deployed Oct. 8 with a medium-to-large USV, though Navy spokespeople would not confirm which model.
- Inside Defense (Oct. 14) quoted Acting SecNav Cao confirming Leidos' Seahawk; Leidos referred questions to the Navy.
- Cao also cited Corsair USV's Apache crew rescue and UUV mine clearance in Hormuz.
Sources: DefenseScoop · Inside Defense18. Army's first 390A "robotics technicians" are adapters, not drone pilots
Ten warrant officers became the Army's first 390A robotics technicians on Oct. 2; Maj. Gen. Jason Slider says the role is adapting robotic kit to mission, enemy and terrain.
- In training, students built a jam-resilient mesh network so quadcopters kept communicating after losing nodes.
- Acting Army Secretary Telle wants the MOS spread beyond special forces.
Sources: Defense One19. Geran-4 teardown: 76% of flight-controller parts are U.S.-made
Ukraine's 1230th Athena Engineering and Technical Regiment found 80 of 105 identified components in a recovered Geran-4 flight controller came from U.S. firms, led by Texas Instruments.
- Boards marked as made in Alabuga (dated June and August 2026); no Russian electronics found; some markings were scrubbed.
- Debris included a mesh modem and a Susannin optical-correlation navigation system.
Sources: Militarnyi20. Starlink jitters lift Ukrainian demand for Helsing's HX-2
An industry source told Janes that Ukrainian units near the Russian border want more Starlink-free HX-2 strike drones for targets that Starlink-dependent drones can't reach because of jamming.
- Helsing claims a "100% strike rate" across three weeks of EU OPEX testing under full GNSS denial (vendor claim).
Sources: Janes21. Jet-powered Shaheds spur a race for faster interceptors
Powerus says jet Shaheds need 600–700 km/h interceptors with much more automation; it unveiled the fully autonomous Guardian 3 at AUSA.
- Targets 5,000 interceptors/month by November; signed a radar pairing deal with Parsons.
Sources: Defense One22. Taiwan Coast Guard takes first V-BAT; 12 coming
Shield AI delivered the first V-BAT to Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration under its "Shipborne UAV" program, with 12 to follow via partner AIDC.
- Group 3 VTOL, 12+ hours endurance, heavy-fuel engine; contract value not disclosed.
Sources: Janes23. U.S. services converge on common multi-domain drone controllers
Shephard finds USAF, Army, USMC and SOCOM have all issued 2026 solicitations, RFIs or market research for common controllers that run multiple uncrewed systems across domains.
- Signals a likely procurement opening for hardware, software and integration suppliers.
Sources: Shephard24. Sweden launches a large UUV demonstrator less than a year after contract
Saab, FMV and the Swedish Armed Forces built, launched and sea-trialed a Large Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (LUUV) demonstrator, finishing phase one.
- Runs Saab's Autonomous Ocean Core; designed to operate alongside submarines.
- Results feed future Swedish UUV acquisition decisions (company release).
Sources: Saab25. AUSA wrap: ~$50B reconciliation ask to scale autonomy
Defense News' AUSA recap highlights Hegseth's call for roughly $50 billion in reconciliation funding to take autonomous weapons from thousands to millions, alongside the Army's FASCOM order.
- National Defense separately cites a $53.6B FY27 autonomy request; Hegseth called reconciliation the fallback if the regular budget stalls.
Sources: Defense News · National Defense