Drones take over AUSA, plus the Army’s plan to bring in new vendors

Drones and counter-drone tech dominated the show as the Army implements new ways to keep industry competing.

Breaking DefenseBreaking Defense Video2026-10-20 13:57查看原文 ↗

新闻视频

Break Out 237

Autonomy was everywhere at the 2026 AUSA expo in Washington. In this episode of The Break Out, Breaking Defense Editor-in-Chief Aaron Mehta and Land Warfare Reporter Carley Welch discuss how drones, low-cost interceptors, lasers and electronic warfare swarmed the show floor as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brought the service secretaries together to reinforce the Pentagon’s push toward autonomous systems .

Welch also talks with the Army’s Chief Technology Officer Alex Miller about another shift underway inside the service: opening acquisition programs to broader and more sustained competition. Miller explains why the Army wants to avoid locking itself into one solution too early, and how a new acquisition pathway is intended to give emerging defense companies a clearer route from promising technology to programs at scale.

Breaking Defense Video

Drones take over AUSA, plus the Army’s plan to bring in new vendors

Hegseth talks autonomy at AUSA, a key show focus

Army doubles down on autonomy, stakes out Indo-Pacific role: AUSA Day 2

Telle talks ‘manufacturing rodeo,’ supply chain ‘weak links’: AUSA Day 1

New leaders, new drone command: What we expect from AUSA 2026

Unpacking Boeing’s F/A-XX win, plus a report from wartime Ukraine

How Hegseth envisions a new Autonomous Warfare Command

What Europe’s military air fleets will look like in 30 years

Riyadh gets closer to F-35s, Damascus presses sovereignty and an expert take on Iran

Drone-hunting on the border, plus turmoil at an Air Force think tank