Drone Dominance | Travis Metz - DIU Acting Director

DIU's Gauntlet orders (30K then 60K drones, Chinese parts banned) aim to force a scalable, autonomous US drone supply chain fast.

• Gauntlet mechanics: DIU's recurring six-month competitions placed orders with 9-11 companies per round, buying 30,000 drones in Gauntlet 1 and 60,000 in Gauntlet 2, funded by $1.1B from the reconciliation bill.
• Price compression: Weaponized one-way attack quad prices fell from $5,000 (first batch) to $4,000 (second batch), still above Ukraine's $500-$2,000 street price, though Gauntlet 3 prices rose for edge-compute investment.

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