About Defense Autonomy Review

Defense Autonomy Review covers the technologies automating defense, from AI and robotics to uncrewed systems, logistics, and the policies shaping their adoption.

Its editorial focus is the distance between a technical claim and an operational capability: what has been demonstrated, under what conditions, and what it would take to field. The site is in a preview edition ahead of launch.

Editorial standards

Our approach is to distinguish what is claimed, what has been demonstrated, and what is in operational use. Explain the conditions behind a result and give uncertainty the space it deserves.

News, analysis, opinion, and sponsored material should be labeled clearly. Sources should be linked wherever possible. Commercial relationships, ownership, and contributor affiliations should be disclosed, with a visible corrections policy before launch.

Funding and independence

Defense Autonomy Review is funded by its founders during the preview. It has no outside investors, and to date it has taken no money from governments, defense contractors, advertisers or sponsors.

The publication intends to earn its revenue from sponsored content, published under Thought Leadership. Sponsored content is paid for by the company or institution named on it. It is labeled “Sponsored” wherever it appears, carries the sponsor’s name, and is kept apart from news, analysis and opinion.

Paying for sponsored content does not buy coverage. Sponsors do not see editorial work before publication and have no say in what is covered or how. Sponsored content is produced separately from editorial work, and current sponsors will be listed on this page.

The team

Defense Autonomy Review does not have a masthead yet. Editors, contributors and their affiliations will be listed here before launch.

Photo credits

Photographs are U.S. Department of Defense visual information in the public domain. Their appearance does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Each photograph illustrates a subject area and is not evidence for the argument of the essay it accompanies.

• Counter-drone training with a Dronebuster at Camp Taurus, Lithuania, 2023. U.S. Army photograph.
• The uncrewed vessels Nomad, Sea Hunter and Ranger in the Pacific ahead of RIMPAC, 2022. U.S. Navy photograph.
• A soldier prepares a Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport at Hohenfels, Germany, 2025. U.S. Army photograph.
• The uncrewed vessel Sea Hunter in the Pacific ahead of RIMPAC, 2022. U.S. Navy photograph.
• A Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System aboard USS Boxer before a counter-drone exercise, 2023. U.S. Marine Corps photograph.
• A Marine Corps XQ-58A Valkyrie on its first test flight, alongside an Air Force F-16 from Eglin AFB, Florida, 2023. U.S. Air Force photograph.
• The Pentagon, 2021. Department of Defense photograph.
• Preflight work on an MQ-9 Reaper at Andersen AFB, Guam, 2022. U.S. Air National Guard photograph.
• The X-62A VISTA, left, with an F-16 over Edwards AFB, California, 2024. U.S. Air Force photograph.
• Marines load a NMESIS launcher onto a C-130J at Lal-lo, Philippines, during Balikatan, 2025. U.S. Marine Corps photograph.
• Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade fly a first-person-view drone built from 3D-printed and commercial parts, Georgia, 2025. U.S. Army National Guard photograph.
• The MQ-25 test aircraft aboard USS George H.W. Bush, December 2021. U.S. Navy photograph.
• An Orca extra-large uncrewed undersea vehicle behind the audience during the Chief of Naval Operations’ visit to Boeing in California, December 2024. U.S. Navy photograph.
• The Army’s DE M-SHORAD prototype, a 50-kilowatt-class laser on a Stryker, 2022. U.S. Army photograph.
• Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft of Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron 3 in San Diego Bay, 2024. U.S. Navy photograph.
• A crewed M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle fires a mine-clearing line charge in training near Boleslawiec, Poland, 2023. U.S. Army photograph.
• Soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment train on the Army’s anti-jam vehicle navigation system at Vilseck, Germany, 2024. U.S. Army photograph.
• A Polish soldier moves a Merops interceptor drone to its launcher during a multinational counter-drone course near Lipa, Poland, 2025. U.S. Army photograph.
• An uncrewed surface vessel of Task Force 59 during exercise Digital Talon 3.0 in the Central Command area, 2024. It is a different type from the craft used at Bandar Abbas. U.S. Army photograph.
• The House Armed Services Committee hears the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Pentagon comptroller on the budget, April 29, 2026. Department of Defense photograph.
• A 173rd Airborne Brigade position, with a camouflaged truck and howitzer, after it was found by an opposing-force drone during Saber Junction at Hohenfels, Germany, 2024. U.S. Army photograph.
• A LUCAS one-way attack drone launches from the littoral combat ship USS Santa Barbara in the Arabian Gulf, December 2025. U.S. Army photograph.
• Soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment carry an acoustic drone-detection panel during Project Flytrap at Hohenfels, Germany, 2025. U.S. Army photograph.
• A soldier of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade monitors mission systems while supporting Project Maven tools at Al-Asad Airbase, Iraq, 2025. U.S. Army photograph.
• A humanoid robot in front of evaluators at the Army’s xTechHumanoid finals at Quantico, September 2026, in a still from the Army’s film. U.S. Army video.
• A humanoid robot at the Army’s xTechHumanoid finals at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, September 2026. U.S. Army photograph.
• A humanoid running Skylark Labs software, in a still from a video the company published in July 2026. Image: Skylark Labs.
• The Navy’s SAFFiR firefighting humanoid in testing aboard the ex-USS Shadwell, 2014, an earlier military humanoid project. It is not a Foundation robot. U.S. Navy photograph.

Further reading

Three publications the editors read and recommend.

• Defense News. Programs, procurement, and the business of defense.
• The War Zone. Military technology, explained in depth.
• War on the Rocks. Strategy, debate, and practitioner perspectives.