A four-legged robot dog prowled the floor of the Army’s largest annual conference in Washington, D.C., this week. Nearby a handheld weapon promised to knock drones from the sky without firing a shot, and a new interceptor was built to chase down the faster, deadlier versions coming next.
The displays offered a glimpse of a battlefield changing at a pace that is forcing the U.S. military and defense industry to race not only to develop new weapons, but to keep them from becoming outdated as quickly as they arrive.
“It’s always a cat and mouse game, and we do have to be looking down the field,” Eric Brock, CEO of defense technology company Ondas, told Fox News Digital in an interview at the Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA) annual meeting.
That race was hard to miss at the AUSA expo this week, where drones, counter-drone weapons and autonomous systems crowded the show floor as the Army looks to rapidly incorporate lessons from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East into its battleplan.
PENTAGON JUMPS FROM $225M TO $55B ON DRONES AS CHEAP ATTACKS OVERWHELM US DEFENSES
“If you walk around the hall at AUSA, it’ll give you a good indication of the Army’s priorities. Our priorities are reflected in what we’re procuring,” Army Under Secretary Mike Obadal said ahead of the conference.
On the ground, Ondas demonstrated a huge piece of that shift: Scout, a four-legged robotic system designed to move ahead of troops into buildings, tunnels and other potentially dangerous areas while sending imagery back to an operator.
“The whole concept is that if the Scout takes fire, it’s better than the soldier,” Brock told Fox News Digital during the demonstration.
The Army’s new autonomous systems command is part of a wider Pentagon effort to organize around unmanned warfare, while War Secretary Pete Hegseth said at AUSA this week that the department is working toward a four-star-led Autonomous Warfare Command.
Obadal predicted an “immense number” of drones and counter-UAS systems at the show, saying their prevalence reflected procurement and budget priorities across the Pentagon. Ukraine, he said, had “cemented” counter-UAS as a critical part of modern operations.
The Army is reorganizing around that reality. This month it announced a new Futures and Autonomous Systems Command tasked with accelerating autonomous capabilities across formations including aviation, armor, fires, sustainment and reconnaissance. At AUSA, the service also expanded drone and counter-drone marketplaces designed to allow the U.S. and its allies to purchase pre-approved systems in days rather than months.
For Brock, one of the clearest lessons from the recent war with Iran was the sheer number of threats defenses could be forced to confront.
“It’s more about mass,” he said. “So we have to make these affordable, low cost, returnable systems, and we have to produce this to scale.”
Ondas has rapidly expanded its own role in that push. Its Mistral subsidiary has secured more than $240 million in orders under the Army’s $982 million Lethal Unmanned Systems contract, including
