Pentagon says it delivered over 25,000 drone and counter-drone systems to CENTCOM this year, 24,000 of them counter-UAS

TLDR

• The Department of War says it fielded 25,000-plus drone and counter-drone systems to CENTCOM this year for about $782 million.¹
• More than 24,000 are counter-UAS fielded through JIATF-401; over 1,300 are one-way attack UAVs.¹
• DRPM-UxS stood up in July; the department plans an Autonomous Warfare Command by 1 October 2027, Pentagon News reports.²

The Department of War announced on 4 November that the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS) has delivered a "massive surge" of unmanned and counter-drone systems to US Central Command (CENTCOM) this year, with an investment of approximately $782 million.¹ It lists over 1,300 one-way attack UAVs, over 100 unmanned surface and underwater vessels, and more than 24,000 counter-unmanned aerial systems that it says form a "multi-layered defensive shield" for forward-deployed forces, delivered through its counter-drone unit, Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401).¹ The release quotes Owen West, CEO of Project Agincourt and DRPM-UxS, and says deliveries to CENTCOM will continue while fielding pipelines expand to Pacific Command, European Command and the wider Joint Force.¹

A Pentagon News story by C. Todd Lopez says DRPM-UxS stood up in July, bringing together JIATF-401, the War Department Innovation Unit and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, and that in September Secretary of War Pete Hegseth added Project Agincourt, an initiative to stand up a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command expected by 1 October 2027.² It says the department has invested more than $6 billion in unmanned systems over the past year and is using a series of four "gauntlets" to encourage industry to build about 300,000 low-cost drones: the first, which ended in July, asked 12 vendors to produce 30,000 drones at $5,000 each, a total of $150 million, and the second, due to end in January, involves ten vendors and about 60,000 units at $5,000, with the price per drone falling to $2,300 by the fourth gauntlet, which ends in January 2028.²

Anadolu Agency repeats the totals and attributes them to the Pentagon.³ The Epoch Times does the same, and adds that the Pentagon announced on the same day a contract of over $6.9 million to CHAOS 1, Inc. for Vanquish Prime radar systems for counter-drone protection in the CENTCOM region, with a JIATF-401 official quoted on the award; it also recalls a framework agreement signed last month with BAE Systems for up to 25,000 interceptor kits a year for up to seven years.⁴ The two Department publications are the origin of the delivery totals, and neither names suppliers, models or delivery dates.¹²³⁴

Why it matters: the totals, including more than 24,000 counter-UAS fielded through JIATF-401, are the Department of War's own figures, repeated by Anadolu Agency and the Epoch Times, and neither Department document names suppliers, models or delivery dates.¹²³⁴