AUTOWAR25 No. 26P · Afternoon Edition
Five U.S. departments, including the Department of War, agree to evaluate and deploy counter-drone systems faster at home, and the Pentagon's AI office advances four teams to the next round of its Swarm Forge drone-swarm project. Ukrainian intelligence finds 52 U.S.-made parts in Russia's faster Geran-5 K5-K jet drone, the Army has fielded launched effects drones to 11 of its 12 divisions, and Machina will build LUCAS attack drones in containerized robotic factories.
1. Five U.S. departments, including the Department of War, sign an agreement to evaluate and deploy counter-drone systems faster at home, with the FAA running quick safety reviews
The Departments of Transportation, War, Homeland Security, Energy and Justice announced a memorandum of understanding, led by the White House Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty, that sets up an interagency process to evaluate counter-drone technologies and deploy them.
- The agencies will work with the FAA and FCC on systems that detect, track, stop or take control of dangerous drones, sharing technical requirements, field testing and data.
- The FAA will run quick safety risk assessments of proposed systems and can restrict airspace if it sees added risk.
- The FAA's Liam McKenna told Reuters the agency has approved more than 1,000 counter-drone coordination requests with the Pentagon and DHS and can turn some around in 24 hours.
- It builds on a southern-border flight restriction and an FAA safety assessment of the Department of War's high-energy laser counter-drone system.
2. The Pentagon's CDAO advances Anduril, Lockheed Martin, Shield AI and SwarmInt to Crucible 4 of its Swarm Forge drone-swarm project, set for Jan. 25–Feb. 5 at Camp Blanding
The Department of War's Chief Digital and AI Office said four teams will advance to Crucible 4 of Swarm Forge, its field-testing project for drone swarms and their operators, Jan. 25 to Feb. 5, 2027, at Camp Blanding, Florida.
- Advancing: Anduril Industries, Lockheed Martin, Shield AI and SwarmInt.
- The same four lead teams split $8 million in prize awards after Crucible 3 at Fort Bragg in September, with Shield AI sharing its prize with Skyeton.
- Swarm Forge began in January with more than 130 companies; the department says it expects to pick swarm packages ready to hand to operational units by the end of Crucible 4.
- CDAO says a new Swarm Forge call for proposals is coming on Tradewinds.
Sources: CDAO on X · DVIDS (Swarm Forge update)3. Ukrainian intelligence tears down Russia's Geran-5 K5-K, a shorter, faster jet drone it now classes as a small cruise missile, and finds 52 U.S.-made parts among 93 foreign components
DroneXL's Haye Kesteloo reports Ukraine's military intelligence agency HUR published a Nov. 9 teardown of a nearly intact Geran-5 K5-K, which Russia began firing at Ukrainian cities in early autumn, and now files it as a small cruise missile.
- The K5-K is 4 m long against 6.5 m for the original Geran-5, flies up to 6 km high and cruises above 450 km/h; HUR's statement says it can reach 1,000 km/h in some maneuvers.
- Of 93 foreign electronic parts, 52 come from U.S. makers, 23 of them Texas Instruments; 10 are Chinese and 10 Swiss.
- It navigates by matching a dual-band camera feed to stored terrain images, the "Susanin" system first found in the Geran-4, on a Chinese microcomputer.
- Range stays about 1,000 km with a 90 kg warhead; the sample carried a thermobaric warhead and a TRD-200 turbojet assembled at Alabuga.
Sources: DroneXL4. The Army has fielded launched effects drones to 11 of its 12 headquarters divisions and every multi-domain task force, with Griffon Aerospace supplying most of them
Breaking Defense's Carley Welch reports Lt. Col. Hunter Gray, product manager for launched effects, said the systems have reached 11 of 12 headquarters divisions and each multi-domain task force under the 2025 Drone Dominance memo, with the last division starting next month.
- Hegseth's 2025 Drone Dominance memo set an end-of-2026 deadline for every division and task force.
- Most systems delivered are long-range types from Griffon Aerospace, which Gray said can now supply hundreds a month, including its Outlaw drone.
- Payloads span ISR, electronic warfare and kinetic effects; the Army has not said which divisions are equipped or how many systems were delivered.
- Officials credit the drone marketplace and fast Other Transaction contracts for the speed.
Sources: Breaking Defense5. Machina wins a $9 million Pentagon award to build LUCAS attack drone airframes in containerized robotic "Edge Factories" meant to deploy near the front
TWZ's Howard Altman reports California robotics firm Machina received a $9 million, 18-month award from the Defense Department's Organic Industrial Base Modernization Challenge to prove it can build Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) airframes at deployed locations.
- Each Edge Factory uses RoboCraftsman cells, two robotic arms that form metal airframes from requirements such as payload and range fed into nTop design software.
- A cell is 20 by 36 feet and weighs 120,000 pounds installed.
- Machina will first set up two factories in the continental U.S.; the goal is to deploy them to places like Kuwait.
- A decision on producing LUCAS at scale in other locations will come later, CEO Ed Mehr said.
Sources: TWZ6. Ukraine's General Staff says its forces hit a Russian Starlink jamming station near Sartana in occupied Donetsk Oblast
Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck a Russian station near Sartana that was used to disrupt Ukrainian troops' satellite communications, Ukrinform reports.
- The General Staff said fewer such sites mean steadier communications for its units and more accurate Ukrainian drone operations.
- It also reported hits on ammunition depots near Tokmak and Ostrykivka and a logistics depot near Krasnohorivka.
- The claim has not been independently verified.
Sources: Ukrinform7. The Air Force seeks contractors to hang counter-drone netting around F-35 shelters at Tyndall Air Force Base
TWZ's Joseph Trevithick reports the 325th Contracting Squadron at Tyndall in Florida is doing market research on sources to design and install counter-drone netting around six sunshade-type F-35 shelters.
- Each shelter is 630 feet long, 65 feet wide and 30 feet high and holds up to six F-35As.
- The nets must stop Group 1 small drones, have mesh no wider than three inches and retract quickly for aircraft to move in and out.
- The notice says a contract is not guaranteed; the six shelters are only some of the base's parking, and many jets park in the open.
- TWZ notes the Air Force has been slow to harden bases against drones.
Sources: TWZ8. The Drone Dominance Program's Gauntlet 2.5, a competition for reusable bomber drones, begins its qualifying phase at Camp Grayling, Michigan
Inside Defense's Theresa Maher reports the qualifying demonstration for Gauntlet 2.5 began Saturday, Nov. 7, at Camp Grayling after a postponement from October, according to the program website.
- Vendors fly their own bomber drones in qualifying; selected teams advance to the final Gauntlet, scheduled to start Friday, Nov. 13.
- The Test Resource Management Center runs both phases.
- The Pentagon expects about $32 million in initial prototype orders, with more planned in later phases.
- Seventeen companies were invited in September.
Sources: Inside Defense9. Short on missiles, Ukraine guards Kyiv with a chain of AI-controlled turrets, and a private Kharkiv firm has each operator run three AI-assisted guns
The Christian Science Monitor's Dominique Soguel reports from Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv on how air defense teams facing Russian jet drones and scarce missiles are turning to AI-assisted weapons and interceptor drones.
- A unit commander defending a 10 km stretch of Kyiv says "there is a chain of AI-controlled turrets across the city."
- At private company Carmine Sky, each operator controls three gun turrets, with AI tracking drones and correcting aim; its defended line in Kharkiv has grown from 4 km to 22 km.
- An Odesa air defense officer says jet interceptor production is held back by an engine shortage, and positions that once had five to 10 Stinger-type missiles now have one.
- An analyst puts interception rates as high as 75% around Kyiv and as low as 5% in Odesa.
Sources: Christian Science Monitor10. Korean Air's aerospace division readies its LOWUS loyal wingman drone for a first flight by year's end as its entry for South Korea's CCA competition
Breaking Defense's Mike Yeo reports Korean Air Aerospace Division plans to fly its Low Observable Wingman Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle System (LOWUS) by the end of this year and enter it in South Korea's coming Collaborative Combat Aircraft competition.
- Two technology demonstrators have been delivered to South Korea's Agency for Defense Development.
- The 10.4 m drone will enter full-scale development in 2029, to fly alongside crewed jets and later KF-21 production blocks.
- An ADD–Hanwha turbofan due in 2032 will replace the Ukrainian AI-222 engine, for speeds up to Mach 0.8 and three hours aloft.
- ADD is developing an "AI Pilot" for air combat, with plans to integrate it into LOWUS for flight demonstration.
Sources: Breaking Defense11. Timothy Wood argues that speed, observational breadth and persistence make continuous human presence in the kill chain non-viable, shifting humans to authorship and audit
In a seven-post X thread posted Nov. 9, Timothy Wood argues that the three properties of machine warfare — speed, observational breadth and persistence — do not accelerate a human-centered kill chain; they make continuous human presence inside it non-viable.
- He frames the change as Machine OODA, or OCDE: observe–compute–decide–effect, with compute taking the place human orientation once occupied.
- Citing Gen. Caine and Ukraine examples, he says AI-enabled systems already compress observation-to-effect below human reaction windows, including under GPS denial and link loss.
- DoD Directive 3000.09's requirement for human judgment, he argues, is increasingly met after the fact: humans author "the book" of intent and constraints, and a bounded Forward Compute-Services Payload executes inside it.
- Policy, doctrine and command relationships must now be written for a world in which machines conducting the kill chain is the normal case, in both the physical and cyber domains.
Sources: @TimOnPoint12. The Royal Navy commissions its first autonomous squadron, about 180 sailors running Kraken K3 Scout and Rattler drone boats on front-line operations, with counter-drone interceptor launches from the boats to follow
The Royal Navy says its 1st Autonomous Squadron, commissioned Nov. 5 at Portsmouth and announced Nov. 9, will operate uncrewed surface vessels on front-line operations as part of a £1.5 billion, four-year push toward a hybrid navy.
- About 180 personnel, the size of a Type 23 frigate's crew, split into two watches to run operations around the clock; it replaces the Project Beehive trials program.
- It operates Kraken K3 Scout and SYOS Rattler boats, built in Fareham and Whiteley; the Scout has a 600 kg payload bay and a range of about 600 miles, extendable to 1,100.
- Navy Lookout reports trial firings of a UK-built counter-drone interceptor are complete, with launches from the Scouts to follow; each interceptor costs £5,000–£10,000.
- The BBC reports the boats are expected to make their first operational deployment in the coming months.
13. Army soldiers in Hawaii put Swarmbotics AI's FireAnt and Cyborg Autonomy's Warfighter ground robots through contested resupply and casualty evacuation trials
Defence Blog's Dylan Malyasov reports soldiers tested uncrewed ground vehicles at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows on Oahu during G-TEAD USARPAC ACE 27-01, an Army competition for autonomous sustainment across island chains.
- 25th Division Sustainment Brigade soldiers drove Swarmbotics AI's small FireAnt robots, built to run in groups under one operator, on a long-distance move Nov. 8.
- Australian firm Cyborg Autonomy's Warfighter, based on BIA5's ATR platform with its own self-driving software, was evaluated Nov. 7 ahead of a casualty evacuation lane.
- Lanes include casualty evacuation, a 4,700 m contested resupply run, and GPS-denied, jammed conditions.
- Up to five winners get $150,000 each, with follow-on prototype deals of up to $2 million; the event runs through Nov. 13.
14. Kongsberg's Arctic Hunter would gut a 56-meter fishing trawler design to make an uncrewed sub-hunter that patrols about 60 days at a time, in flotillas of 10 near the Bear Gap
Defense News' Sebastian Sprenger reports Kongsberg Maritime's Arctic Hunter pitch for the Royal Navy's Type 92 requirement would strip a standard 56-meter trawler design of its fish-processing gear and replace it with autonomy systems.
- A Kongsberg spokesman said the craft could comb the ocean unattended for about 60 days at a time.
- The concept calls for a flotilla of 10 based "west of the Bear Gap," the Svalbard–Norway passage Russian submarines use to reach the Atlantic.
- Parts such as the propeller would be redesigned to cut noise that could interfere with the Thales UK sonar.
- The drones would support future Type 26 frigates in anti-submarine work.
Sources: Defense News15. The Israel Defense Forces form two new reconnaissance-strike infantry battalions in the Golani and Nahal brigades built around drones, robotics and precision munitions
The Israeli military announced that the 11th "Alon" Battalion in the Golani Brigade and the 935th "Nofekh" Battalion in the Nahal Brigade will serve as reconnaissance-strike units that locate and destroy enemy targets in real time, as reported by Times of Israel military correspondent Emanuel Fabian.
- The IDF says the battalions will specialize in drones, robotics, surveillance and visual intelligence systems, advanced weaponry and precision-guided munitions.
- The move follows Ground Forces and Personnel Directorate staff work approved by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
- The military calls the units a "force multiplier" for combat troops and part of an expansion of the Ground Forces.
- Full details, including timelines and size, have not yet been finalized.
Sources: Emanuel Fabian on X · Times of Israel16. Ukraine's parliament backs a new Space Forces branch as an officer says Russia's Starlink-like Rassvet network, 32 satellites launched this year, is being built to steer drones like Shaheds in flight
Euromaidan Press' Olena Mukhina reports Ukraine's parliament on Nov. 9 backed a bill creating Space Forces within the Armed Forces, whose core missions, a Territorial Defense Forces officer said, include striking Russia's new Rassvet military satellite network.
- Taras Berezovets described Rassvet as a Starlink analog that relays reconnaissance drone data and can redirect strike drones like Shaheds mid-flight.
- He said Russia has put 32 craft into orbit this year to correct drone routes in real time, so drones rely less on preset paths; the system is still in testing, and Russia lost contact with three craft in the past month.
- Kyiv Independent reports the bill passed in its first reading.
- Partners would launch Ukraine's satellites, which would then pass to Space Forces command.
Sources: Euromaidan Press · Kyiv Independent17. General Atomics unveils Ranger and GA-Ray glider UUVs built for multi-year missions, with plans to scale to 100-foot vehicles that launch smaller drones
Naval News' Aaron-Matthew Lariosa reports General Atomics showed its Ranger and GA-Ray long-range unmanned underwater vehicles at Euronaval 2026, designed to operate for years and carry sub-drones and payloads for surveillance, mining and strike.
- GA says a new power system lets the UUVs run for multiple years or tens of thousands of kilometers, using buoyancy-driven glider propulsion.
- A 22-foot vehicle now in use for risk reduction will scale to a 100-foot-wingspan version with a CONEX-sized cargo bay.
- GA showed video of a tube-launched quadcopter drone designed to deploy from the UUVs.
- Concept graphics showed launches from Okinawa and Guam reaching First Island Chain chokepoints.
Sources: Naval News18. Ukraine's F-16 pilots have shot down 4,700 Russian drones, 1,100 in October alone, mostly with their internal cannons, a unit commander says
Defence24's Maciej Szopa reports that a Ukrainian F-16 unit commander, call sign "Phantom," told the International Fighter Conference in Munich that the jets have downed 4,700 Russian drones, 1,100 of them in October.
- Cannon fire is the main weapon, saving scarce air-to-air missiles; one pilot recently set a record of nine drones on a single flight.
- The eight-kill record holder returned with 100 of his 400 rounds left, suggesting ammunition is not the limit.
- Slow piston-engine drones are the risky targets, with stall and blast dangers; Ukraine has lost MiG-29s and F-16s this way.
- For scale, Russia is estimated to have launched about 6,100 long-range one-way attack drones in October.
Sources: Defence2419. Russian units and military bloggers circulate dozens of AI-altered videos to inflate battlefield gains in Ukraine, the Financial Times reports, citing ISW research
The Financial Times reported Nov. 9 that the Institute for the Study of War identified at least 35 videos from Russian military units and military bloggers that appear to have been altered with AI, some amplified by Russian state media and the Defense Ministry.
- Many insert soldiers raising flags into geolocated footage of places Russia has not taken, such as Vesele Pole north of Dobropillia, about 12 km past ISW's assessed line.
- ISW says commercial detection software flagged at least 10 videos with high confidence, and the true number is likely higher.
- ISW calls it a grassroots effort by some milbloggers and units, possibly to show commanders they met Kremlin deadlines.
- Carnegie's Dara Massicot told the FT the gap between Russian claims and reality is widening.
20. Shield AI says its Hivemind software flew multiple Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft as a coordinated team for the first time, in an Oct. 26 test
Shield AI said Nov. 9 that on Oct. 26 its Hivemind mission autonomy enabled multiple Air Force CCAs to fly a multi-ship formation and beyond-visual-range air combat tactics.
- Three weeks earlier, an F-22 pilot in flight sent commands to an FQ-44A Fury and Hivemind executed the called maneuvers, the company said.
- Shield AI says the software release process is nearing the point where the Air Force can fly, update overnight and fly again the next day.
- The Defiant notes the broader CCA program remains in operational experimentation.
- This is a company announcement; the Air Force has not released its own account.
Sources: Shield AI on X · The Defiant21. Belgium revives its Cold War 51st Squadron after 37 years to run new ground-based air defenses, including 20 Skyranger 30 anti-drone guns
Defence Blog's Dylan Malyasov reports Defense Minister Theo Francken said the Belgian Air Force reactivated the 51st Squadron, a former Nike Hercules unit, on Nov. 9 to run the country's ground-based air defense again.
- Under the "Blue Dome" plan it will operate 10 NASAMS, 20 Rheinmetall Skyranger 30 guns, 14 radars and 54 command vehicles in one network.
- Francken said the Skyranger contract, for a 30 mm radar-guided gun built to down drones and swarms, was being signed the same day.
- The first NASAMS is expected at the end of 2027.
- Belgium is buying with the Netherlands, which is helping train the unit.
Sources: Defence Blog22. Bulgaria confirms the bodies of six sailors were found aboard the Wine Trader, the tanker set ablaze by drones off Romania on Oct. 15
Euromaidan Press' Taisiia Vivdych reports Bulgaria's Interior Ministry confirmed on Nov. 7 that the bodies of six sailors were found aboard the Wine Trader during repairs in Varna, three weeks after drones struck it near Romania's Sulina Canal.
- Seven of its 12 crew had been missing since the Oct. 15 strike.
- AFP counts at least nine merchant ships hit by drones off Romania and Bulgaria since early October, with 34 dead or missing.
- Russia's Defense Ministry posted video Oct. 18 claiming Geran and Lancet crews hit "a large dry-cargo ship"; the ship's manager says it shows the Wine Trader.
- Romania blames Russia; Bulgaria has said it lacks proof.
Sources: Euromaidan Press23. Ukrainian drones hit the Kirishi refinery near St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest, as the regional governor claims 113 drones downed
The Kyiv Independent's Lachlan Hyatt reports Leningrad Oblast Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko confirmed a Ukrainian drone attack hit the Kirishi (Kinef) refinery overnight on Nov. 9, starting a fire that was later extinguished.
- Drozdenko claimed 113 drones were shot down over the region; debris killed a woman in Vsevolozhsk.
- The plant refines about 20 million tons a year, more than 6% of Russia's refined output, including military fuel.
- NASA FIRMS satellite data detected multiple hotspots; it is the first strike on the plant since August.
- Euromaidan Press notes the strike follows hits on three of the four refineries supplying Moscow last week.
Sources: Kyiv Independent · Euromaidan Press24. Haiti's government-run drone task force is linked to the death of Boston gang leader Mathias Saintil after at least seven kamikaze drones hit gang strongholds around Port-au-Prince
The Miami Herald's Jacqueline Charles and DroneXL's Haye Kesteloo report Haiti's prime minister confirmed the death of Boston gang leader Mathias Saintil after Nov. 5 operations in which a rights group says a kamikaze drone struck his vehicle; police say he was shot.
- Haiti's National Human Rights Defense Network counted at least seven kamikaze drones across five communes; it said five of Saintil's men died and about 15 were wounded.
- Haiti National Police say Saintil was hit by multiple gunshots during the operation, so the accounts differ.
- DroneXL says the drones belong to a prime minister's task force supported by Erik Prince's Vectus Global.
- Human Rights Watch counted 141 drone operations that killed at least 1,243 people between March 2025 and January 2026.
Sources: DroneXL · Miami Herald25. Nominal, whose AI platform analyzes test data for Anduril and other defense hardware makers, raises $240 million at a $3 billion valuation
TechCrunch's Julie Bort reports Austin-based Nominal raised a $240 million Series C led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and co-led by Insight Partners, tripling its valuation to $3 billion in eight months.
- Nominal's AI platform is built for engineering and testing complex hardware such as aircraft; it counts 80 commercial and government customers.
- Anduril is a key customer; the Air Force picked Nominal in October for a $71.2 million STRATFI award.
- Its March round, a $155 million Series B extension led by Founders Fund, valued it at $1 billion.
- CEO Cameron McCord is a former Navy submarine officer and Anduril alum.
Sources: TechCrunch
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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 with new information. Repeat stories keep a First reported date and edition instead of a separate label. Claims from warring parties are labeled as claims, and anything we couldn't independently confirm is marked unverified.
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