As the world gets more complicated, the solutions don’t have to be. Affordable, American-made drones are the answer to a rapidly changing and complex battlefield.
The War Department is right to treat drone dominance as the future of combat. As America’s adversaries develop new, cheap weaponry, the United States must have an industrial base ready and able to arm the next generation of combat units with low-cost, American-made drones at scale.
This administration understands the needs of the next generation of warfare. President Donald Trump’s Unleashing American Drone Dominance order and War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s memorandum set the mission: Arm them now and at scale, grow the U.S. industrial base today, and be ready to fight whenever and wherever necessary.
The Drone Dominance Program is an innovative $1 billion plan to purchase small, lethal drones over the next two years. Hegseth’s intent is clear: Accelerate American factories; rapidly arm units with low-cost, consumable drones at scale; and ultimately keep Americans safe.
The program follows the secretary’s direct acquisition strategy: a steady demand signal and a transparent competition that leverages private capital and the most innovative minds across our country. They’re letting the free market work for America’s national security and the next generation of drone technology. The results are clear: Prices drop, and lethality rises. By 2027, the DDP intends to purchase over 200,000 drones that can produce lethal effects in the toughest battlefield environments.
The DDP is more than a competition, experiment, or test. It is a course correction after decades of letting our adversaries pass the U.S. by. America spent years throwing good money after bad at exorbitant platforms while our adversaries mass-produced cheaper and cheaper weaponry. As a result, critical parts drifted toward foreign and often unstable supply chains, including China.
Drone Dominance flips that logic on warfighting and readiness. American manufacturers are stepping up for this administration and, more importantly, those who serve. What our troops fly should be made by patriots, for patriots. Nothing in the critical path walks out the door to adversaries, especially those in Moscow or Beijing.
The industrial payoff is not a side effect. Robotics, avionics, and software jobs stay here. Americans are put to work keeping our nation safe. Prices fall because the War Department is a customer with a clear mission directive: The U.S. is equipped for the next generation of warfighting.
That is the future that XTEND is building for those Americans serving.
At its heart, XTEND’s XOS is the Mission Execution Operating System for Physical AI: connecting hardware, AI-native software, and human judgment into one ecosystem. We know you can’t replace skilled operators or those who wear the uniform. The future still requires humans to make decisions, software to coordinate, and hardware to go first. The future looks like one operator supervising a team, not flying a single airframe by remote control. The human stays in command. Threats are neutralized. Lives are kept safe.
But hardware alone is not dominance. A pile of airframes without a way to fight is simply inventory. DDP drones are the vehicles. The applications and the mission software are what find, fix, and finish. They clear a stairwell or stop a bomb. By building a platform around collaboration and innovation, we enable swift integration and scale. XTEND ships one drone and lets the XOS marketplace ship the next hundred capabilities. It’s not simply a product, but a way for an operator to reshape the capabilities to the mission instead of waiting for the next procurement cycle. Ultimately, physical AI and operating systems bridge hardware to real-world operational success.
In August, our stack flew live at the Gauntlet II competition at Fort Carson in Colorado. Military operators flew find-fix-finish in confined environments for close-quarters battle, with night, kinetic, and electronic-warfare lanes. XTEND Reality Inc. was proud to be a top performer in CQB, which demonstrates why software matters just as much as the airframe. These close quarters produce difficult environments for some, but not for those building the future of drone dominance.
The DDP’s Gauntlet showed not only who can deliver at price and volume, but who can protect those serving on the front lines around the world today.
The results of this administration’s drone efforts do not end with the front lines of combat. These advances will transform public safety, commercial security, and community protection. Soon, a drone clears a building, keeping a security guard safe. Our advanced ecosystem helps a Department of Homeland Security agent protect America’s borders. Or at the next big game, local law enforcement identifies threats before they strike. This generation of advanced security also means safer bomb disposal, fire reconnaissance, and commercial security.
Because of Trump and Hegseth’s leadership, doctrine is being rewritten to match the inventory. But doctrine without inventory is a briefing. Inventory without trusted applications is a warehouse. The DDP changes all of that and puts America in the lead for 21st-century drone technology.
Wherever the 21st century takes the fight, the requirement is the same. American-led. American-made. Cheap enough to use and secure enough to trust. Free of foreign interference. Lives saved.
The War Department has set the mission. XTEND is building in the U.S. to meet the call. And in August, we showed the world that our American-made, “America First” drones belong in that fight.
Drone dominance will be built in the U.S. Period.
Roy Levy is the vice president and U.S. general manager at XTEND AI Robotics, an operating system for physical AI.