- Pentagon receives 2,000 Ukrainian attack drones after landmark export approval
- Ukraine completes first official export of fully assembled combat drones
- F10 drone secures Pentagon contract after strong Gauntlet I performance
The United States has received 2,000 Ukrainian F10 attack drones after manufacturer F-Drones secured a Pentagon contract during the opening phase of the Drone Dominance program.
The shipment follows Ukraine’s first official export permit for completed combat drones, marking a notable change from previous approvals that mainly cover technologies, components or accessories.
The delivery also comes as the Pentagon advances the next phase of its broader $1.1 billion Drone Dominance initiative aimed at expanding domestic and allied unmanned capabilities.
Ukraine grants its first export permit for finished combat drones
The State Export Control Service of Ukraine issued the permit on July 1, 2026, authorizing F-Drones to send a batch of F10 units across the border into US territory.
A company representative said the permit had already taken effect and the drones crossed the border shortly after the approval was granted.
F-Drones noted that this approval arrived before new government measures simplifying military exports under martial law had formally come into force.
The company completed the full approval cycle under the export control mechanism already in place at that time.
That process required a positive decision from the interdepartmental commission overseeing military-technical cooperation and export policy matters.
The state-owned company Spetstechnoexport accompanied the entire procedure, from the first review to the final deregistration.
Previous Ukrainian export decisions had typically involved individual components or subsystems rather than complete, combat-ready drone systems shipped in bulk.
This shift suggests that Ukrainian officials now see finished drone exports as both commercially valuable and diplomatically useful for deepening ties with Washington.
UDD Tech Corp’s path to winning the Pentagon contract
American company UDD Tech Corp, which represents F-Drones products in the United States, entered the first phase of the program known as Gauntlet I.
Testing took place at Fort Benning in Georgia in February 2026 involving 25 competing drone systems from multiple manufacturers.
The F10 system finished sixth among those 25 competitors, securing a spot among 11 overall program winners.
This result brought the contract to supply 2,000 drones directly to the US War Department.
UDD Tech Corp also earned selection to continue into the program’s next competitive phase moving forward.
The Drone Dominance Initiative itself is designed to accelerate US access to low-cost, combat-tested unmanned systems developed outside of traditional domestic supply chains.
Established U.S. defense contractors have reportedly viewed the program with some caution given the amount of foreign competition it now allows.
This deal signals a shift toward foreign-made hardware entering a Pentagon pipeline long dominated by established U.S. defense contractors across the country.
Whether this shift will continue at scale or remain a single contract is not yet clear from information currently publicly available.
Via Defender Media
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