Robinson Unmanned has been selected to participate in Gauntlet II of the Department of War’s Drone Dominance Program (DDP), with deliveries of its U.S.-made SPIRIT First-Person-View (FPV) systems continuing.
Competing as Ascent AeroSystems, the company is participating in the program with SPIRIT-FPV, a rugged, modular, all-weather coaxial Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). The Drone Dominance Program is a rapid acquisition initiative conducted through multiple competitive phases and focused on building a resilient U.S.-based supply chain for capable, low-cost one-way attack drone systems.
Official data published through Drone Dominance Program channels placed Robinson Unmanned among the top performers in the Phase 1 competition for strong production capabilities. The company said this is increasingly relevant as the Department of War looks beyond capability prototyping toward scalable production of mission-ready systems.
Robinson Unmanned advanced following the Phase 2 qualifier at Camp Grayling, Michigan, in June 2026. The event involved Robinson Unmanned and 48 other companies demonstrating UAS configurations in one or both of two mission areas: Long Range Strike and Tactical Assault in Close Quarters.
Following the qualifier, Robinson Unmanned was one of 19 companies invited to advance to the next stage and is preparing to participate in Gauntlet II at Fort Carson, Colorado, in August 2026.
SPIRIT-FPV is described by Robinson Unmanned as a field-ready system engineered to meet the Department of War’s operational and compliance requirements. It is based on the company’s NDAA-compliant, Blue UAS Cleared SPIRIT airframe.
Paul Fermo, President of Robinson Unmanned, commented, “As we advance to Gauntlet II, we recognize that unmanned systems will play an increasingly important role within the Department of War, but the future of unmanned systems won’t be defined by drone capability alone. It will be defined by which companies can manufacture reliable systems at scale.”
“This milestone validates that Robinson Unmanned, backed by Robinson Helicopter Company’s 53-years of aerospace manufacturing excellence, has the U.S. engineering, manufacturing capability, and resilient supply chain required to rapidly deliver reliable, NDAA-compliant unmanned systems to operators at the speed of relevance.”
“At Robinson Unmanned we understand that true operational capability begins with aerospace-grade reliability. Built on our NDAA-compliant, Blue UAS Cleared SPIRIT airframe, SPIRIT-FPV is a rugged, modular, easy to deploy system that is ready for real-world missions,” added Fermo.
Robinson Unmanned maintains Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2 compliance. The company states that its vertical integration, aerospace-grade engineering rigor, production discipline, and certified manufacturing processes support the manufacturing maturity and production scalability required for rapid fielding programs such as Drone Dominance.
