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Defense Tech & Drones: Autonomy, Missile Defense and Military AI

Sourced news and explainers on military drones, counter-drone systems, autonomous weapons rules, the Golden Dome missile shield, defense-tech startups and military AI.

Latest in Defense Tech & Drones

What we cover in Defense Tech & Drones

Defense Tech & Drones covers the machines and software changing how militaries fight and defend:

  • armed and surveillance drones
  • the counter-drone systems built to stop them
  • weapons that can choose targets with little or no human input
  • homeland missile defense
  • the startups and AI developers now competing for defense work

The section explains programs, budgets, law and policy in plain language. Consumer drones and civil spaceflight are covered elsewhere.

The sums involved are large. The Pentagon's fiscal 2027 budget request, unveiled on April 21, 2026, totals $1.5 trillion, Defense News reported. It said the request includes $53.6 billion for autonomous drone platforms and contested logistics. The outlet said it also includes $21 billion for munitions, counter-drone technology and other advanced systems. Golden Dome, the planned US missile shield, carries a program-office estimate of $185 billion. The Congressional Budget Office, which works for Congress, calculated in May 2026 that a system matching the president's order would cost about $1.2 trillion over 20 years.

The rules are unsettled too. No treaty specifically restricts autonomous weapons. On August 25, 2026, the UN Secretary-General and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross urged governments to move toward negotiating one. They urged them to use a November review conference to do so. The main players range from the Pentagon and established contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to companies such as SpaceX and Anduril. Alongside them are the UN bodies and humanitarian groups pressing for limits. Coverage here attributes cost figures to their source and separates administration estimates from independent ones.

Defense Tech & Drones reference

Defense Tech & Drones: common questions

Are autonomous weapons legal?
No international treaty specifically bans or regulates autonomous weapons. So they fall under the general laws of war, including the requirements of distinction and proportionality. US policy is set out in Defense Department Directive 3000.09. It does not prohibit them but requires that systems allow appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN Secretary-General are urging states to negotiate binding rules.
Are autonomous weapons being used?
Limited forms are. The International Committee of the Red Cross points to air defense systems that strike incoming missiles and to some loitering munitions. It says these already select and attack targets without human intervention, generally against clear military targets and under close human supervision. In Ukraine, some drones now use onboard software to guide the final approach to a target, IEEE Spectrum reported in March 2026. But an analyst quoted there expected humans to stay in the decision loop for some years.
What is Golden Dome?
Golden Dome for America is a US Defense Department program to build a layered air and missile defense system for the US homeland. President Trump introduced it by executive order in January 2025. The program's director has put the cost at $185 billion through 2035. The Congressional Budget Office is independent of the Pentagon. It estimated about $1.2 trillion over 20 years for a notional system with the capabilities the order describes.
What is a loitering munition?
A loitering munition is an unmanned aircraft that carries an explosive warhead and is built to strike its target directly. So it is not recovered after a mission. It can stay in the air over an area for an extended time. During that time an operator uses its cameras to find a target and decide when to strike. It is sometimes called a suicide drone.

Sources

  1. Pentagon seeks funds for Golden Dome, drones, AI in largest-ever budget request, Defense News
  2. Potential Costs of a National Missile Defense System, Congressional Budget Office
  3. The U.S. Army and the Golden Dome Program, Congressional Research Service
  4. Defense Primer: U.S. Policy on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, Congressional Research Service
  5. What you need to know about autonomous weapons, International Committee of the Red Cross
  6. Renewed call from UN Secretary-General and ICRC President to adopt rules on autonomous weapon systems, International Committee of the Red Cross
  7. The Coming Drone-War Inflection in Ukraine, IEEE Spectrum
  8. Loitering Munitions In Focus, Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
  9. Space Force names 12 companies to develop Golden Dome’s space-based interceptors, DefenseScoop