AUTOWAR25 No. 22A · Morning Edition
A federal court says the Navy unfairly knocked Saildrone out of the Medium USV race and freezes most of the program's production budget, and a Pentagon follow-up on the CENTCOM drone surge lays out a path to roughly 300,000 low-cost drones. Defense One says the Pentagon is following Ukraine into ground robots, South Korea reorganized its drone command into a tech headquarters, and Ukraine reported downing most of a 128-drone overnight attack.
1. A federal court says the Navy unfairly eliminated Saildrone from the Medium USV competition and freezes most of the $2.1 billion production budget until it reevaluates
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims found the Navy gave Saildrone's Spectre "disparate treatment" versus Sea Machines on displacement paperwork, Judge Philip Hadji wrote in an opinion unsealed Wednesday, Breaking Defense reports.
- The Navy must reevaluate Saildrone's proposal within 60 days under the same approach used for firms that advanced to on-water testing.
- Until that review finishes, the Navy may not spend more than $1.5 billion of the $2.1 billion allocated for MUSV production.
- A Navy spokesperson said the service will comply; Saildrone CEO Richard Jenkins called the ruling "a win for fair competition, for taxpayers, and for national security."
- Blue Water Autonomy lost its parallel challenge; the court said the Navy reasonably rated its twin-hulled test craft not "representative" of its axe-bow production design.
Sources: Breaking Defense2. A new Pentagon news story on the CENTCOM drone surge adds that the department has put more than $6 billion into unmanned systems this year and is running "gauntlets" aimed at about 300,000 low-cost drones
Pentagon reporter C. Todd Lopez's Wednesday follow-up on the DRPM-UxS CENTCOM deliveries lays out Project Agincourt's path to AUTOWARCOM and the department's low-cost drone manufacturing gauntlets.
- The piece restates the earlier release: about $782 million fielded more than 1,300 one-way attack drones, over 100 maritime drones and more than 24,000 counter-drone systems to CENTCOM via JIATF-401.
- Over the past year the department invested more than $6 billion in unmanned systems across air, land and maritime domains, Lopez writes.
- Gauntlet 1 (ended July) asked 12 vendors for 30,000 drones at $5,000 each; Gauntlet 2 (ends January) has 10 vendors for about 60,000 at the same price.
- By Gauntlet 4 in January 2028, orders are planned to rise to 150,000 units at about $2,300 each, for a four-gauntlet total near 300,000.
Sources: war.gov news story · war.gov release3. The Pentagon is beginning to follow Ukraine into wider use of ground robots, committing more than $115 million to UGV projects in fiscal 2026, Defense One reports
Ukraine ordered more than 22,000 UGVs in the first seven months of 2026, while U.S. programs lean toward more capable, pricier autonomy rather than cheap attritable robots, John Croxton writes, citing analyst Samuel Bendett.
- Bendett says Ukraine and Russia want systems that are "not very expensive," attritable and easy to replace, built largely from commercial parts.
- Ukraine's TERMIT can haul up to 300 kg for logistics or casualty evacuation; armed Droid TW 12.7 UGVs have defended key intersections.
- U.S. examples include the Marines' NMESIS ROGUE Fires JLTV launchers (Forterra and Kodiak AI autonomy; about $92 million in orders this year) and Overland AI IBEX buys by the Marines and 75th Ranger Regiment for logistics and counter-UAV.
- Overland also won more than $34 million in autonomous breaching awards in August and September.
Sources: Defense One · Bendett on X4. South Korea turns its Drone Operations Command into a Defense Drone Headquarters that develops and tests tech while the services fly the drones
Formally established Nov. 1 and inaugurated Nov. 2, the headquarters drops combat units and shrinks from about 280 people to around 100, the Ministry of National Defense told Aju Press.
- Each service will now do both reconnaissance and strike with drones; the Joint Chiefs will coordinate joint operations.
- The headquarters will push commercial-drone certification, component standards and Korea-relevant testing, leaving buying to DAPA.
- The change follows a January 2026 advisory recommendation to abolish the command over overlapping functions; North Korea showed one-way attack drones at an Oct. 29 exhibition Kim Jong-un attended.
Sources: Aju Press5. JIATF-401 awards CHAOS 1 a $6.9 million contract for Vanquish Prime long-range counter-drone radars for U.S. forces in the Middle East
The Pentagon's counter-drone task force said Wednesday that CHAOS 1 will deliver Vanquish Prime radar systems to sites in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, with training and integration support.
- The radars add long-range detection and tracking as one layer of a layered defense against drones, the release says.
- JIATF-401, stood up nearly 15 months ago, replaced the Pentagon's previous counter-drone task force, which had no acquisition authority, Inside Defense notes.
- The award came the same day the department said it fielded more than 24,000 counter-drone systems to CENTCOM this year.
Sources: war.gov release · Inside Defense6. Ukraine says it shot down or suppressed 105 of 128 Russian attack drones overnight, as Russia also fired two Kh-35 missiles from the Black Sea
From 6 p.m. Wednesday, Russia launched 128 attack drones — including Shahed-type (65 jet-powered), Gerbera and Parodya decoys — plus two Kh-35s, Ukraine's Air Force said; 105 drones were downed or suppressed by 8 a.m. Thursday, Ukrinform reports.
- Hits were recorded at 18 locations; debris fell at nine; several drones were still in the air as of the morning update.
- Launch points included Oryol, Kursk, Millerovo and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, plus occupied Donetsk and Crimea sites.
- Earlier overnight strikes injured people and sparked fires at infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk oblast, Ukrinform says; both sides' figures are unconfirmed claims of warring parties.
Sources: Ukrinform7. Naval Group shows an extended FDI frigate with 336 vertical cells for loitering munitions or interceptor drones, plus 18 more air-defense missile cells
Ahead of Euronaval 2026, Naval Group unveiled an lengthened "FDI XL" concept that can swap extra Exocet launchers for two naval containers holding 336 unidentified loitering-munition or interceptor-drone cells, Defense Express reports.
- The stretch adds deck space amidships and three groups of six vertical cells (18 total) likely for Mica VL or Aster 15.
- Baseline FDI weapons — 32 Aster cells, 76 mm gun, Exocets, torpedoes — otherwise stay largely the same.
- Which loitering munition or interceptor fills the 336 cells has not been named.
Sources: Defense Express8. Shield AI says a "snowball" of European X-BAT orders and partnerships is coming soon, at a target price of about $25 million per aircraft
Cofounder Ryan Tseng told Breaking Defense at the International Fighter Conference in Munich that European deals will be announced "when we're ready," a day after Shield AI showed its first full-scale X-BAT prototype.
- X-BAT Europe director Andrew Hawkes said the company is in "several active" sales campaigns on the continent.
- Tseng said the per-aircraft cost could come down to $25 million, plus about $10 million for a higher-end sensor fit.
- Shield AI and the Navy are jointly investing $400 million in X-BAT, Breaking Defense reports.
Sources: Breaking Defense9. Rafael unveils L-SPIKE, a loitering munition family with AI target recognition that fires from launchers SPIKE users already own
Rafael presented the L-SPIKE family for the first time to its 48-country SPIKE user community at the 21st SPIKE Users Club meeting in Larnaca, Cyprus, Defence Industry Europe and The Jerusalem Post report.
- The 50 kg L-SPIKE 4X flies up to 40 km on a turbojet, loiters 30 minutes, and one operator can control salvos of up to four, with GPS-jamming resistance.
- The 2.2 kg L-SPIKE 1X (formerly SPIKE Firefly) is a VTOL infantry munition that navigates without GPS using SLAM and AI tracking.
- Rafael says users can keep their existing launchers; SPIKE now has 13 production lines worldwide.
Sources: Defence Industry Europe · The Jerusalem Post10. Germany orders an airborne laser pod demonstrator from MBDA, aimed at future Luftwaffe aircraft and drones that shoot down drones and cruise missiles
Germany's BAAINBw procurement office contracted MBDA Deutschland to build a pod-based airborne laser demonstrator, the country's first formal step toward aircraft-mounted laser weapons, TWZ reports.
- An MBDA rendering shows stealthy, fighter-like uncrewed aircraft carrying the laser pods.
- No contract value, power level, host aircraft or schedule has been released.
- It builds on the MBDA/Rheinmetall laser that shot down a drone from the frigate Sachsen in 2022 sea trials.
Sources: TWZ11. Slovenia's Valhalla Turrets finishes live-fire tests of its ASGARD counter-drone turret with a 3,000-round-a-minute M134D Gatling gun
The Slovenian Armed Forces organized several days of trials funded by the Ministry of Defense; Valhalla says ASGARD engaged all drone types at short and medium ranges, Defence Blog reports.
- ASGARD is a remote-controlled midweight turret for convoys and critical infrastructure, shown at Eurosatory with a HENSOLDT SPEXER radar and optional side missile rails.
- The Dillon Aero M134D six-barrel 7.62 mm Gatling puts a dense bullet cloud in front of small, fast drones.
- Valhalla's related MIDGARD 134 remote weapon station, also M134D-armed, entered delivery this year.
Sources: Defence Blog12. MBDA and Terma develop SPIMM, a plug-and-play ISO-container air and surface defense module with counter-drone capability
The Self Protection Integrated Mistral 3 Module pairs MBDA's SIMBAD-RC4 / MISTRAL 3 with sensors and Terma's C2 so ships, ports, offshore platforms and industrial sites can add layered defense with only a power hookup, Unmanned Airspace reports.
- Threat set includes UAVs, cruise missiles, aircraft, helicopters, uncrewed surface vessels and one-way attack boats.
- Housed in a standard ISO container, it can move between vessels that lack combat systems and land sites.
- The work builds on a cooperation agreement signed at Eurosatory in June 2026.
Sources: Unmanned Airspace · MBDA13. Preneu and a DamsTech consortium win South Korea's government drone-versus-counter-drone warfare contest
Six teams fought six matches Nov. 3–4 at Seungjin Training Ground in Pocheon; winners get Defense Minister awards, cash, field-trial slots and extra points on support programs, Aju Press reports.
- Preneu took first in the drone category; DamsTech with Ubify and RFCore won counter-drone.
- The Defense Ministry and five other agencies jointly ran the event to push civilian-military tech cooperation.
- Teams had advanced through June preliminaries.
Sources: Aju Press14. Corridian exits stealth with a $38 million seed to build ultra-large autonomous submarines for "stealth logistics" under the sea
The New England startup, led by Point72 Ventures, plans to unveil its flagship ultra-large autonomous undersea vehicle next year to carry ISO-standard containerized payloads long distances without a crew, Axios reports.
- Advisers include retired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, retired Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler and retired Rear Adm. Jamie Sands.
- Co-founder Mike Guay says it carries "whatever payloads our customers choose" and uses an aerospace-style manufacturing model.
- Balerion Space Ventures, Harpoon Ventures, DCVC and Marlinspike joined the round.
Sources: Axios15. Israel Weapons Industry says four Southeast Asian nations are buying its ARBEL rifle-mounted anti-drone system after Thailand fielded it
IWI told Breaking Defense that four countries in the region are "at different stages of the procurement process" for ARBEL, which turns existing AR-15-type rifles and light machine guns into anti-drone weapons.
- Thailand's Ministry of Defense has ARBEL operational for day and night use after IWI integration and training, the company said Oct. 22.
- Thailand fitted it by swapping the lower receiver of rifles it already owns, avoiding new weapon buys.
- "Countering the growing drone threat is one of the most pressing concerns our customers are raising," IWI said.
Sources: Breaking Defense16. EUROATLAS and EvoLogics start series production of the GREYSHARK swarming underwater drone, with first deliveries to European navies this year
The German firms showed the first series-production GREYSHARK autonomous underwater vehicle at Euronaval, two years after its prototype debut, with orders from European government customers, Ocean News & Technology reports.
- The roughly 6-meter AUV cruises at 10 knots and runs about 300 nautical miles at 4 knots, for three to five days.
- Multiple vehicles form an encrypted acoustic network, share reconnaissance live and split tasks among themselves automatically.
- Missions include ISR, mine countermeasures and seabed infrastructure monitoring; a fuel-cell version is next.
Sources: Ocean News & Technology17. Ukraine's MAC HUB brings its Katran combat USV family to Euronaval and signs with French shipbuilder Ocea to deploy them from patrol ships
MAC HUB confirmed a memorandum of cooperation with Ocea to integrate Katran uncrewed surface vessels with Ocea's patrol and offshore vessels, covering launch, storage, maintenance and multi-domain operations, Janes reports.
- Katran variants include the 7.7 m X1, 9.5 m X1.2 and 6.5 m X3.
- Modular fits include UAVs, interceptor drones, missiles and machine guns.
- Ocea says it is extending drone operations across its whole ship range.
Sources: Janes18. France qualifies the VTOL version of Airbus's Aliaca drone for French Navy support ships in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean
France's DGA cleared the VTOL Airbus U010 Aliaca for navy service after land and sea tests in May and June, with the first two systems delivered in September, Airbus Helicopters said Nov. 3, dronenr reports.
- Eight of the 34 two-drone systems the DGA ordered under the SMDM mini-drone contract are the VTOL variant.
- They'll fly from BSAM and BSAOM support ships homeported in New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Réunion and Martinique.
- The 25 kg drone has two hours' endurance, a 50 km range, an EO/IR camera and AIS ship identification.
Sources: dronenr19. Ukraine's General Staff says it struck a Russian attack-UAV storage, prep and launch site in occupied Crimea
On Nov. 4 and overnight into Nov. 5, Ukrainian units hit a site used to store, prepare and launch attack UAVs in temporarily occupied Crimea, plus a drone unit, the General Staff said Thursday.
- The post did not name the site, claim a destruction tally or provide independent verification.
- It came the same morning Ukraine reported downing most of a 128-drone Russian strike package.
Sources: General Staff on X20. ParaZero wins a fourth order from a Tier-1 European defense firm for its DefendAir net pods to protect armored vehicles from attack drones
The order follows a live demo in which DefendAir, mounted on the customer's armored vehicle, intercepted multiple drones in sequence at a European test site, Unmanned Airspace reports.
- The modular net pods are a non-explosive physical layer for vehicle, autonomous, remote and fixed counter-drone systems.
- ParaZero expects integration to finish by the end of 2026 and plans demos for senior NATO officers.
Sources: Unmanned Airspace21. The CDAO's Edge SI Task Force embedded with Marines in Monterey to help build Corps-specific applications at a USMC hackathon
The Pentagon's Chief Digital and AI Office said Wednesday its Edge SI Task Force worked with the Marine Corps last week to build applications for the Corps "at scale" and invited others to future DoW hackathons.
- The post gave no details on the applications built.
Sources: CDAO post22. Aviation Week looks at DARPA's Fort Knox demo, where one operator on a laptop ran a team of robot vehicles and loitering munitions through a simulated strike
Aviation Week says the demonstration of DARPA's RACER autonomy software marks a notable advance in human-supervised robotic warfare, in a members-only analysis posted Wednesday.
- Four autonomous ground vehicles searched for and detected targets on their own from a satellite-imagery tip; a human approved every engagement, DARPA says.
- Three of the vehicles carried Anduril one-way attack drones for closer looks or strikes.
- DARPA plans its next test in December, putting the vehicles in front of soldiers for feedback.
23. Ukraine's long-range drones push Russia to plan underground data centers after strikes hit Yandex, Sberbank and other AI and cloud sites
Russian firms are exploring buried or open-pit-mine data centers after Ukrainian strikes damaged facilities housing AI supercomputers and disrupted cloud services, Ars Technica reports; Putin ordered operators to reserve 10% capacity for emergency state use.
- Targets have included Yandex, Sberbank, VKontakte and Finance Ministry facilities; Yandex relocated all three main supercomputers, Meduza reported.
- Rostelecom has talked with Norilsk about underground sites; a regional governor proposed camouflaged open-pit coal-mine data centers.
- The piece contrasts Russia's centralized cloud with Ukraine's dispersed, cloud-migrated services.
Sources: Ars Technica · Bendett on X24. HII and Thales demonstrate an end-to-end autonomous mine-countermeasure mission with REMUS 620, SAMDIS 600 sonar and ANGLER
The companies said Nov. 3 that Thales' Expeditionary PathMaster linked HII's REMUS 620 UUV, Thales SAMDIS 600 multi-aspect sonar and AAC's ANGLER neutralization ROV through a single expeditionary command post, Naval News and HII report.
- Find: REMUS 620 searches with SAMDIS 600 under HII Odyssey C2 talking to Thales' ePOC; Sea Launcher handled automated launch and recovery.
- Fix: multi-aspect imagery plus AI automatic target recognition classified and localized mine-like objects.
- Finish: ANGLER reacquired contacts for visual ID and can carry a 66 mm shaped charge or 20 mm underwater projectiles; no customer or live-fire result was disclosed.
- The demo extends 2025 sensor integration work; PathMaster is pitched as NATO-compliant and supplier-agnostic.
Sources: Naval News · HII25. Naval Group unveils the 37-meter Seaquest M medium uncrewed surface vessel with a containerized combat system as France weighs armed MUSVs
Shown ahead of Euronaval, Seaquest M is a steel-hull, straight-bow "loyal wingman" or standalone MUSV derived from a civilian design for fast multi-yard production, Naval News reports.
- Focus areas: up to 10-day mission autonomy without human intervention, production scalability, and a fully containerized combat system using Steeris mission management.
- A Panoramic Sensor Integrated Module mast, matured on Gowind and FDI frigates, consolidates sensors; modular deck space can take containers and effectors such as the Rampart launcher.
- French Navy drone planners told Naval News armed MUSVs are "later increments" while they mature endurance, connectivity and hull durability; DGA has tenders for embarked ISR USVs and the DANAE armed ASV fleet.
- Sea trials of a minimum viable product are planned within the next couple of months; a larger Seaquest L is not in active development.
Sources: Naval News
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How AUTOWAR25 ranks
Every edition, we scan official channels, news, industry, research, and social posts for the 25 most important developments in autonomous warfare: drones, counter-drone systems, uncrewed vessels and vehicles, and military AI.
Stories rank by source first:
- Official means governments, militaries, and their leaders speaking on the record.
- Premium/Press means established news outlets.
- Industry/Research means companies, think tanks, and published research.
- Social means notable posts from analysts, reporters, and practitioners.
Within each group, newer stories rank higher and engagement breaks ties. A company press release stays out of the top 10 until someone else reports on it. Ongoing marks a developing story, and Carryover marks one from a previous edition that's still moving. Claims from warring parties are labeled as claims, and anything we couldn't independently confirm is marked unverified.
AUTOWAR25 comes out at 7 AM and 4 PM ET. Follow @autowar25.