Pentagon seeks 100 FPV drone pilots for Drone Dominance program — Defense News
The Pentagon is seeking about 100 U.S. service members with experience operating FPV drones to participate in the Gauntlet III phase of the Drone Dominance program. At the same time, the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) aims to create a permanent registry of drone operators from all branches of the U.S. armed forces, Defense News reports.
Testing unmanned systems
Drone Dominance is a $1.1 billion U.S. Department of Defense program aimed at rapidly expanding the American small unmanned aerial systems industry. Under the program, companies submit small unmanned systems for a competition, and the most successful systems for military use are planned to be stockpiled.
Erin Cherry, the program's testing lead, said that the number of operators in the future registry will not be limited. Service members selected for Gauntlet III will be able to test new drones, including systems that are not yet in service. Some participants will also undergo specialized training in the use of one-way attack drones.
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What operators are being sought
DIU is primarily inviting service members with experience operating FPV drones, including in manual acro mode. Such drones are used for reconnaissance, surveillance, strike missions, and close-range combat.
At the same time, the selection will not be limited to experienced FPV pilots alone. DIU will assess flight skills, tactical knowledge, experience working with payloads, long-range navigation, and flights in urban areas. The unit emphasized that a drone must be suitable not only for the most experienced operators. Interested individuals can fill out an expression-of-interest form; responses will be sent only to applicants with active .mil military email addresses. Pilot participation will be coordinated through the relevant branches of the armed forces.
