{"id":136231,"date":"2026-07-01T20:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/136231\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T20:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:03:18","slug":"hegseth-realigning-dods-scattered-unmanned-and-autonomy-work-under-new-drone-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/136231\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth realigning DOD\u2019s scattered unmanned and autonomy work under new drone boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth established a new direct reporting portfolio manager for unmanned offensive and defensive systems \u2014 dubbed DRPM-UxS \u2014 to serve as the \u201csingle joint integrator\u201d for almost all of the Pentagon\u2019s autonomous and drone assets, investments and operations.<\/p>\n

In an official memorandum to senior Defense Department and military leaders dated June 29, Hegseth called UxS \u201cthe most consequential battlefield innovation of this generation\u201d and laid out instructions to set up the new hub to ensure that the agency is moving \u201cat the speed this moment demands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile global military unmanned systems production has skyrocketed over the last three years, the United States has been slow to field these capabilities at scale,\u201d he wrote in the memo, which the department released<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

As he suggested, drones are saturating international markets as America hustles to operationalize them<\/a> and better protect its domestic infrastructure<\/a> from a rise in risky, adversarial incursions. Drone swarms and other deadly robotic warfare tactics have also been playing out in real-world conflicts<\/a> around the Middle East and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Hegseth\u2019s seven-page memo states that the new DRPM-UxS will have directive authority over the department\u2019s:<\/p>\n

Unmanned aerial group 1-3 systems<\/p>\n

Unmanned surface vessels \u2014 except the Navy\u2019s current medium USV program<\/p>\n

Unmanned underwater vessels\u00a0 \u2014 in coordination with DRPM Submarines<\/p>\n

Unmanned ground systems<\/p>\n

Unmanned autonomy\/artificial intelligence\/swarming software<\/p>\n

Counter-unmanned systems<\/p>\n

Logistical support to unmanned systems<\/p>\n

Unmanned and counter-unmanned system marketplaces<\/p>\n

A Pentagon spokesperson declined to share whether an interim DRPM-UxS director has been named. When the team is fully functional, that official will report to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DOD\u2019s drone boss will \u201cdirect all activities to develop, procure, field, sustain, and operationalize unmanned and autonomous systems across all domains,\u201d Hegseth wrote.<\/p>\n

Initial elements that have been aligned under the DRPM-UxS are Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401<\/a>) and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hegseth noted that organizations and personnel assigned to the department\u2019s components that are executing UxS-related activities may be placed under the control and directive tasking authority of the new DRPM when necessary to achieve system synchronization.<\/p>\n

The DRPM-UxS \u201cwill take precedence on all acquisition matters related to execution of UxS programs\u201d after the defense secretary and his deputy, the memo states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU<\/a>) will serve as the primary industry engagement interface between the DOD and its commercial partners for programs within the new portfolio.<\/p>\n

Among other responsibilities, the DRPM-UxS will also generate and enforce joint technical standards, interoperability requirements, and open architecture requirements for the military\u2019s drones and autonomous platforms.<\/p>\n

Hegseth set deadlines in his memo for DOD personnel to complete multiple, near-term tasks \u2014 like hiring staff, inventorying the military\u2019s drone work, and defining the organizational construct \u2014 to formally install the new DRPM.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Brandi<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWritten by Brandi Vincent
\n\t\t\tBrandi Vincent is a Senior Reporter at DefenseScoop, where she reports on disruptive technologies and associated policies impacting Pentagon and military personnel. Prior to joining SNG, she produced a documentary and worked as a journalist at Nextgov, Snapchat and NBC Network. Brandi grew up in Louisiana and received a master\u2019s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. She was named Best New Journalist at the 2024 Defence Media Awards.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth established a new direct reporting portfolio manager for unmanned offensive and defensive systems \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[120],"tags":[548,65818,63562,7055,27375,5687,65819,4049,49317,65820,1615,65714,56654,18,15368,7064,42688,65821,7065,65822,65823,7066,65824,65825,27007,65715],"class_list":["post-136231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pete-hegseth","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-autonomous","tag-autonomous-system","tag-counter-drone","tag-dawg","tag-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth","tag-diu","tag-drone","tag-drone-dominance-program","tag-drone-swarm","tag-drones","tag-drpm-uxs","tag-jiatf-401","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-stephen-feinberg","tag-uas","tag-uavs","tag-ugv","tag-unmanned-aerial-systems","tag-unmanned-ground-vehicle-ugv","tag-unmanned-surface-vessel","tag-unmanned-systems","tag-unmanned-underwater-vehicle","tag-usv","tag-uuv","tag-uxs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116846513610228529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}