Pentagon to hold Drone Dominance trials for bomber drones, with UFORCE, Gurzuf Defence, Grim Tech and others taking part

A new round of drone-system trials under the Drone Dominance programme will take place at Camp Grayling in Michigan in October, as the Pentagon continues selecting UAVs for the US Army. Seventeen companies producing bomber drones have been invited to take part in the latest round.

The invited participants include Ukrainian manufacturers and foreign partner companies that have taken part in previous Drone Dominance rounds with Ukrainian drones: UFORCE USA Services, Grim Tech, Gurzuf Defence, UA Defense Tech, Skycutter and UDD Tech Corp.

It is not yet known which specific drone models the participants will use. UFORCE is known for its Nemesis bomber drones. Gurzuf Tech specialises in heavy bombers and has the Heavy Shot and Audag-6 UAVs in its product line-up. The latter recently set a Ukrainian record for the payload capacity of a multirotor drone, carrying 130 kg. Grim Tech recently unveiled its Grim-18 light bomber at MSPO 2026 in Poland.

The new Drone Dominance round is called Phase 2.5 Bomber Qualifier. During the trials, the drones will be tested in three missions divided into two stages:

1. Bomber Qualifier, conducted by the manufacturers themselves;
2. Bomber Gauntlet, in which the systems will be tested by US military personnel.

The organisers have not published information about the third mission.

Phase 2.5 Bomber Qualifier is described as the most demanding and fastest-paced testing phase of the Drone Dominance programme. Each company must have at least six fully operational systems ready for testing.

Defender Media previously reported on the completion of the second phase of Drone Dominance, in which a drone developed by Ukrainian company SkyFall placed fourth in the Deep Strike category.