News updates on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) including latest the drone technology and use in conflicts around the world. An executive summary, key events and developments, and curated articles are provided in this article.
Executive Summary
July’s drone developments reflected a widening shift from experimentation toward operational deployment. U.S. forces employed one-way attack surface vessels in combat for the first time, while the Pentagon established a centralized office to accelerate unmanned-system development and acquisition. Ukraine expanded its deep-strike campaign against Russian energy and commercial logistics infrastructure, and Iran continued using inexpensive drones to impose costly defensive demands across the Middle East. Meanwhile, new U.S. and British programs emphasized heavy lift, maritime launch platforms, autonomy, and the rapid procurement of affordable systems.
Curated Articles
The topics listed below are presented with descriptions and with links to the online article.
- SOCOM is Looking for a Small but Long-Range OWA Drone
- U.S. Uses Kamikaze Drone Boats in Iran War
- “Drones on a Boat” or SWAP
- DARPA Lift Challenge
- Ft. Rucker’s Advance Drone Course
- 2,000 Ukrainian drones to U.S.
- UK’s Defence Investment Plan and Drones
Featured Topic – DRPM-UxS
This article’s featured topic is about the newly established Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems, or DRPM-UxS. The Pentagon says this will consolidate nearly all the DoD’s unmanned and autonomous systems (UxS) programs under one office. This was announced by the DoD in a news release (DoD, July 1, 2026) memo on June 19, 2026. (DoD, PDF, 7 pages) The new office will oversee how the DoD develops, buys, fields, and maintains air, ground, and sea unmanned systems. The oversight of big systems like the large air drones (MQ-25 Stingray, MQ-4 Triton, and Collaborative Combat Aircraft) will stay with the services. Joint Interagency Task Force 401 and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group will fall under DRPM-UxS. The new office will direct report to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. This new priority office aims to rapidly accelerate the development, procurement, and fielding at scale of autonomous capabilities. The Director of JIATF-401 will gain responsibility for counter-unmanned systems under DRPM-UxS.
U.S. Military Drone Developments
SOCOM Looking for Small OWA Long-Range Drone. U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, is on the hunt for an air-launched loitering munition with extended range and capabilities according to a June 2026 SOCOM Request for Information. The UAV must have a loiter time of 40 minutes and range of 75 nautical miles. The “Air Loitering Munition” will be able to be launched by a SOCOM fixed-wing aircraft such as the AC-130J Ghostrider or another SOF platform. “SOCOM is seeking a long-range kamikaze drone”, Military Times, June 30, 2026.
U.S. Uses Kamikaze Drone Boats in Iran War. For the first time, the United States military used drone boats carrying explosives in combat. The target was an Iranian naval base attacked on Sunday, July 12, 2026. Three Corsair unmanned surface drones attacked a ship maintenance facility and a small submarine at Iran’s Bandar Abbas Naval Base. Watch a video of the drone attacks. (CENTCOM, X, July 13, 2026)
“Drones on a Boat” or SWAP. The Department of Defense has announced a new program called “Suitable Warfighting Adaptive Payloads (SWAP”; or informally referred to as “Drones on a Boat”. DoD is looking for innovative combinations of USVs and UASs that maximize operational effectiveness while improving the cost-exchange ratio across a range of mission profiles. Read more in an announcement by the War Department Innovation Unit.
DARPA Lift Challenge. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is kicking off its inaugural Lift Challenge, a week-long competition that will advance heavy vertical-lift aviation by finding a drone capable of transporting a payload many times its own weight. Millions of dollars in prizes are available to the contest winners. The contest has attracted more than 100 competitors. The competition begins on August 2nd at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. DARPA will livestream the event. “DARPA challenge pushes limits of heavy-lift drone technology”, Military Times, July 30, 2026.
Ft. Rucker’s Advance Drone Course. The Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course at Fort Rucker, Alabama, is pushing forward with a series of updates aimed at strengthening tactical proficiency. The course runs six times each year. “Fort Rucker’s Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course Ramps Up Tactical Drone Training”, DoD, July 29, 2026.
Drones and the Russia-Ukraine War
Drones and the Battlefield Effect. Drones have not made tanks, artillery, or infantry obsolete. Rather, drones have created near-continuous observation, compressed targeting timelines, extended precision strike to the smallest units, and made concentration and movement increasingly dangerous. Success now depends heavily on the ability to integrate drones with artillery, electronic warfare, intelligence, communications, deception, logistics, and conventional maneuver forces.
Ukrainian Drone Attacks on Russia Increase. The last several months have seen a steady increase in major drone attacks by Ukraine against targets in Russia. Some drone attacks have seen over 300 drones in a single night heading to Russian targets. Lately, the more notable targets include Russian oil refineries as well as Wildberries distribution centers. Repeated strikes on refineries and fuel infrastructure have disrupted production and contributed to localized fuel shortages and price pressures inside Russia.
The Ukrainian attacks on the Wildberries facilities are significant because they represent an expansion of Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign from clearly identifiable defense and energy facilities to Russia’s commercial logistics network. At least seven Wildberries facilities reportedly suffered damage, eliminating roughly 10 percent of the company’s storage capacity and affecting thousands of merchants. Beyond disrupting possible military supplies, the campaign strains warehousing, insurance, banking, transportation, and air defenses while bringing the economic consequences of the war directly to Russian businesses and consumers. Ukraine maintains that Wildberries distributes tactical equipment, drone components, thermal-imaging devices, uniforms, and other materiel used by Russian forces. If a particular warehouse is demonstrably storing or moving substantial military supplies, it could qualify as a dual-use military objective. Wildberries is often described as “Russia’s Amazon” because it is Russia’s largest online marketplace and operates an extensive nationwide network of fulfillment centers, warehouses, and delivery points.
Ukrainian Drones to U.S. Ukraine’s F-Drones has delivered the first 2,000 F10 FPV drones to the US military under the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Program. The F10 is a strike quadcopter equipped with an FPV camera and designed to carry an explosive payload against armored vehicles, military equipment, and personnel. The Drone Dominance Program is a $1 billion US Defense Department initiative intended to procure more than 200,000 drones for American forces by 2027. “Ukraine’s F-Drones Delivers 2,000 FPV Drones to Pentagon for Drone Dominance Trials”, United24 Media, July 31, 2026.
Drones and the Iran War
Several significant drone warfare developments took place in July 2026 in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
- The U.S. conducted its first combat employment of maritime strike drones on July 12, 2026, when CENTCOM used three Corsair one-way attack surface vessels against a submarine and ship-maintenance facility at Bandar Abbas, Iran.
- Iran has adopted a dispersed regional drone campaign that has targeted U.S. facilities and other targets in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Saudi Arabia.
- Iran continues its tactic of mixing slower, inexpensive one-way attack drones with ballistic missiles, launched from different directions and through proxy-controlled territory.
- The cost-exchange problem remained unresolved; the U.S. and its allies are intercepting many of the Iranian drones, but Iran’s inexpensive systems are consuming costly interceptors and aircraft hours. Iran is likely to continue the drone and missile campaign even though most of them are destroyed because it is causing persistant problems of attrition and disruption that likely will not be resolved in the near term.
International Drone Developments
Drone Attack in Egypt against U.S. Facility. A drone struck two gas vessels at Egypt’s Damietta port on July 29, including the U.S.-owned floating storage and regasification unit Energos Winter, causing fires but no casualties. Responsibility remains unconfirmed, although the attack raised concerns about energy shipments through the nearby Suez Canal and SUMED pipeline.
RIMPAC 2026. U.S. and partner forces conducted more than 35 experiments involving uncrewed vessels, autonomous logistics, collaborative sensing, surveillance, and multinational command-and-control. The exercise demonstrated movement from isolated prototypes toward integrated allied operations. One of the events was the use of a Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC) to attack the decommissioned amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu.
UK’s Defence Investment Plan and Drones. Robert Tollast provides an update on the UK’s future drone program and how swarm drones can be incorporated into the UK defense plans of the future. “The UK’s Defence Investment Plan Has a Lethal Drone Swarm Vision”, Royal United Services Institute, July 16, 2026.
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Image. A U.S. Army paratrooper assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade uses a Dronebuster 3B to disrupt enemy drones as part of Exercise Shield 23, April 20, 2023, in Pula, Croatia. (Photo by Sgt. Mariah Y. Gonzalez)
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