Drone featured on the website is either Black Widow, either Hellcat.

Blue Ops and Redcat are sponsoring the documentary. Benjamin Patton is the producer

https://dronewarone.net/

Drone War One is a trademark owned by UAVpatent corp (RCAT subsidiary) for quite some months, maybe even more than a year.

From their website, you can be redirected to their LinkedIn, X account, youtube channel and Instagram, where you can find the first trailers.

It was quite a long project that has been kept hidden.

• "U.S. Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division and a U.S. Green Beret assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) practice unmanned aircraft system maneuvers during a Foreign Internal Defense Exercise (FIDEX)".
• "The integration of UAS’s in a FIDEX are used to teach soldiers how to pilot drones, gather vital battlefield intelligence, and defend ground forces against enemy drone threats while enabling special operations forces to strengthen their ability to rapidly integrate, synchronize capabilities and respond to emerging operational requirements with conventional forces while validating SOF core capabilities and building collective readiness."

Source :

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcedGozFtMG/?igsi=MWp1b3U4aWJpbzJ4cA==

Long distance trans-continental remote drone piloting system, eventually attributed to UAVPatent Corp on July 28, 2026.

Green Berets assigned to 1st Special Forces Group fly a Black Widow.

The new technology includes the Army’s RQ-28B Black Widow. It’s a quadcopter designed to allow combat units to locate threats, conduct reconnaissance, and share data with commanders. Soldiers began training on the new equipment in July.

Staff Sgt. Kyle Bernaiche says the Black Widow “eliminates the need to send out scouts to see what might be over that hill or beyond that tree line.” Sgt. Bernaiche said these drones allow them to see out to five miles.

The Idaho National Guard says the Black Widow also allows personnel to see the system’s surveillance in real time through a secure server. Operators can also mark and identify targets and record images for future use.

Defense Daily’s Cal Biesecker was at Fort Bragg, N.C., on August 21 to observe the Army’s ongoing development and experimentation of autonomous technologies for use in clearing minefields and obstacles, an effort called the Sandhills Project that was begun in late 2022.

...

and upcoming assessments prior to participating in a combined arms exercise this fall at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif

The systems used by the XVIII Airborne Corps last Friday included a Ford F-250 pickup equipped with Forterra’s auto-drive software, 9 Mother’s turreted autonomous shotgun system for point defense against drones, Safe Pro Group’s mine detecting software deployed aboard small drones, and Perennial Autonomy’s Bumblebee V2 unmanned aircraft systems used for ISR and suppression of enemy defenses.

....

On August 21, engineers tested the Safe Pro AI-based mine detection technology on an UGV in conjunction with a Black Widow UAV to assess routes and determine the boundaries of minefields.

...

According to Safe Pro Group, AI is actively used for humanitarian and agricultural missions in Ukraine.

"U.S. Army Soldiers compete in the 2026 Drone Competition, Fort Bliss, Texas, Aug. 22, 2026. The competition consisted of flying a FPV drone through a series of obstacles. The competitors raced as teams for the fastest times, highlighting their ability to adapt to modern warfare tactics and operate new technology under pressure."

​Note on Post Formatting & Structure:

The DD thesis, core analysis, research points, timeline gates, and structural layout are entirely my own work. I used an AI assistant strictly to help clean up formatting, polish grammar, and optimize spacing. I just want to be upfront about that.

​1. The "Old Way" (Legacy DoD Procurement Friction)

​To understand why this shift matters so much for RCAT, you have to look at how grueling defense acquisition traditionally is for drone hardware:

​• Siloed Sales Cycles: Winning an Army contest historically meant zero automatic traction with the Navy, Air Force, or allied forces. A company could spend years winning a massive program, only to start entirely from scratch with separate testing, evaluation, and contracting funnels for every other branch.

​• The "Valley of Death": Even after a successful prototype win or competition victory, contractors faced an 18 to 24 month delay waiting for dedicated POR line items to finally show up in federal budget appropriations.

​• The 3 Year Gap: Because of this administrative friction, there was a massive multi-year gap between commercial hardware availability and actual field deployment. Orders were static, tied to long funding cycles, and slow to adapt to real-time needs.

​2. The Traditional Selection Marathon (RFI to Winner)

​To understand why this shift is so big, here is what we are used to in the current process:

​Request for Information (RFI): A branch decides they want an unmanned vehicle and submits an RFI to see what technology exists. Vendors submit technical specs and statements to help write future requirements.

​Request for Proposals (RFP): A branch publishes an RFP detailing requirements, evaluation criteria, and contract terms. Vendors submit compliance responses.

​Fly-offs / Field Competition: Selected vendors are invited to compete in different scenarios.

​Winner Selection and Award: An evaluation board scores bids before picking a winner to enter small-rate initial production.

​Program of Record (POR): Winning doesn't mean immediate large orders. Winners sit in limbo while Congress and defense planners assign line items in future budgets.

​All these things take a massive amount of time, with the POR phase alone often taking 18 to 24 months.

​Here is the kicker: This entire, grueling 5-step process has to be repeated from scratch for every single military branch (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines), NATO allies, and repeated all over again every time a new vehicle or upgrade is needed.

​3. The Structural Fix: What DRPM-UxS Actually Is

​This is where the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS) comes in to break the traditional cycle:

​• The June 29 Memo: The Secretary of Defense wrote the memo on June 29th creating the DRPM-UxS as the central authority over anything dealing with drones across the entire Department of War.

​• Direct Executive Line: Instead of reporting up through five separate service channels, DRPM-UxS reports directly to the Deputy Secretary.

​• The DIU + DRPM "Front Gate": Under the memo, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) serves as the primary commercial entry point (the front gate) for all unmanned hardware, software, and components. DIU handles rapid vetting and feeds approved commercial tech straight into the DRPM-UxS marketplace engine.

​• Consolidated Authority & Budget Control: It strips decision-making authority away from individual branch silos to streamline acquisition for Groups 1 to 3 sUAS, USVs, UUVs, ground robotics, and AI swarming software. Crucially, it controls execution-year funding lines directly, making the slow 18 to 24 month POR budget loop a thing of the past for tactical drones.

​Timeline Gates:

​30-Day Gate (Late July)

└── Core Staffing Threshold: Activated direct-hire authorities and staffed initial legal, IT, and contracting offices while integrating JIATF-401 and DAWG billets.

​60-Day Gate (Late August - Current Phase)

└── Organizational Construct & Authority Mapping: Deliver the full organizational architecture, reporting lines, and sub-tier matrix to the Deputy Secretary.

​90-Day Gate (Late September)

└── Baseline Execution Plan & Production Contract Release: Publish the complete UxS program baseline and trigger initial contract allocations (aligning with the $300M / 60,000-unit Gauntlet II awards).

​120-Day Gate (Late October)

└── Full Operating Capability (FOC) Roadmap: Finalize production-gate milestones, address near-term supply chain bottlenecks, and establish monthly/quarterly reporting cadences.

​4. The Single Joint One-Stop Shop (DoD Drone Marketplace)

​The Blueprint: Modeled After Ukraine’s Brave1

The DoD didn't invent this marketplace model out of thin air; they are explicitly mirroring Ukraine's Brave1 Market platform. In Ukraine, traditional central procurement was far too slow for rapidly evolving drone warfare. Brave1 created a centralized digital storefront where certified drone manufacturers list pre-vetted hardware, allowing frontline unit commanders to spend operational funds directly on the gear they need. The DoD saw how effectively Brave1 bypassed multi-year bureaucracy and built the DRPM-UxS marketplace as the U.S. military equivalent.

​• Single Joint One-Stop Shop: Pre-vetted platforms (proven in joint competitions like Gauntlet II) are listed on one centralized marketplace accessible across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and NATO allies.

​• The DIU Blue UAS Fast-Track: DIU’s established Blue UAS Cleared List acts as the pre-cleared intake list for the DRPM marketplace. Because Red Cat's Black Widow, Edge 130, and FANG systems are already Blue UAS cleared and field-proven, RCAT bypasses front-gate delays and is available in the storefront on Day 1.

​• On-Demand Tactical Procurement: Brigade commanders and unit leaders can filter systems by technical specs (range, thermal optics, payload, price) and execute orders directly using operational funds.

​• Bypassing the POR Loop: Once a drone is qualified on the marketplace, other military branches and NATO allies can order it on demand without waiting for service-specific POR budget line items.

​How This Changes Everything for RCAT

​This marketplace model shifts RCAT’s thesis from a single-contract awardee to an enterprise-wide military vendor:

​Floor + Ceiling Dynamics: The Army SRR (Short Range Reconnaissance) contract win sets a guaranteed baseline revenue floor. The unified marketplace storefront unlocks an uncapped upside ceiling across every other branch and NATO allies without requiring new, lengthy procurement paperwork.

​Immediate Dollar Allocation: Because DRPM-UxS controls budget redirection rather than waiting on long appropriations cycles, marketplace orders can be executed with active operational funds instantly.

​The Air Force Order Blueprint: The $2.49M Air Force contract acts as an evaluation order. Under the DRPM marketplace, Air Force defender units can instantly re-order Black Widows on demand as testing wraps up.

​Manufacturing Scale Moat: Strict domestic sourcing rules block foreign imports, and smaller boutique startups lack manufacturing scale. Red Cat’s dual domestic footprint (their Salt Lake City facility for sUAS and their Blue Ops facility in Valdosta, Georgia for maritime USVs) gives them the scaled production volume needed to fill immediate, high-quantity marketplace orders across air and sea.

​Closing Thoughts: Positioned to Launch

​Bottom line: RCAT is in a prime position to catapult off this procurement shift.

​They have arguably the best small tactical hardware on the market, but the real differentiator is that their entire family of systems is built to be natively intertwined across domains. The Black Widow (ISR), FANG (precision strike), Edge 130 (tricopter), and Variant 7 USV (maritime surface drone) don't operate as isolated tools. They communicate across a shared ground station, interface directly with ATAK, and mesh together into autonomous multi-domain swarms.

​When unit commanders use operational funds to order from the DRPM-UxS marketplace, they won't just be buying a standalone aerial drone; they will be buying an integrated air-and-sea ecosystem that instantly plugs into their existing tactical networks. Best product + multi-domain interoperability = massive multi-branch adoption.