An interceptor that works costs more than the thing it destroys, and there are fewer of them than anyone would like. That exchange ratio has become the organizing problem of modern weapons development. A one-way attack drone assembled for a few tens of thousands of dollars can force the launch of a missile costing several million, and no magazine survives that trade for long.
This section covers the effectors and the software around them. Missiles and munitions, unmanned systems, air and missile defense, electronic warfare, cyber, lasers and high-power microwave, autonomy, propulsion, and the mission software that decides how quickly any of it can be changed.
Demonstrations are treated as demonstrations. A laser that shot down a drone on a range in good weather is not a fielded capability, and coverage says which one it is.
Production rate matters as much as performance. A weapon nobody can build at scale is a briefing slide.
House appropriators and Senate authorizers backed the Air Force’s full $513.7 million fiscal 2027 request for next-generation fighter engines; House authorizers recommended cutting it by $51.4 million. A continuing resolution now holds the program to its fiscal 2026 level just as prototype
A proposed DFARS rule would make an eligible foreign-ownership status in a DCSA system a condition of award on contracts above $5 million, cleared or not. Its impact numbers do not reconcile, and the paperwork approval it relies on was enlarged a
The S2AS contract drew a single bid and caps orders at $350 million. The Army’s own budget programs 147 systems through FY2031, worth at most about $156 million. On May 29, 2026, the Pentagon announced that 3dB Labs, a small business in
Five months after the Pentagon’s headline budget request, three congressional committees have written down a figure for the same organization, and it isn’t $55 billion. Defense Autonomous Warfare Group · FY2027 Requested, discretionary $1.00B Requested, mandatory $53.6B via reconciliation HASC, authorized $1.00B
Air & Missile Defense Systems · Analysis · August 2026. Primary source: US Department of War daily contracts bulletin. Inventory figures are think-tank estimates, not disclosed stockpile numbers. The Army’s first PAC-2 buy in thirty years was fully obligated on day one
The U.S. Air Force on Dec. 22, 2025 assigned the YFQ-48A Mission Design Series to Northrop Grumman’s Project Talon, a semi-autonomous prototype aircraft. The service described Talon as a “strong contender” for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft effort, as Increment 2 concept work
U.S. Navy officials confirmed a first at-sea launch of a LUCAS one-way attack drone from the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Santa Barbara in the Arabian Gulf. The test used a rocket-assisted launch from the ship’s flight deck. The flight took place
Defense officials confirm the Army will field its first full Sentinel A4 deployment around Washington, D.C. The radar is the AN/MPQ-64A4 variant. It targets low-altitude threats, with emphasis on cruise missiles and drones. The plan surfaced during a Redstone Arsenal event near
The U.S. Army is tying a new Patriot interceptor effort to a launcher shift toward a more vertical firing profile. The stated goal is an “over-the-shoulder” shot, where a battery can engage a threat that already crossed overhead. Senior leaders heard the
Video from Redstone Arsenal shows an Army hypersonics director telling Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the Dark Eagle weapon can reach about 3,500 kilometers. Another officer, filmed near the launcher, described its warhead as “under 30 pounds” and said the payload is
Missiles / Drones / Directed Energy carries the effectors: cruise and ballistic weapons, loitering munitions, unmanned systems, and the lasers and high-power microwave now being fielded against them. What all of it is aimed at, and what shoots it down, is in Air & Missile Defense Systems.
