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Unmanned Systems

Limited Resources Limit DIU’s Ability To Clear Commercial Drones For DoD, Industry Official Says

By Cal Biesecker

Tuesday, April 1st, 2025

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Limited Resources Limit DIU’s Ability To Clear Commercial Drones For DoD, Industry Official Says

X10D small drone is on DIU's Blue UAS Cleared List. Photo: Skydio

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) lacks the resources to adequately assess commercial unmanned aircraft system (UAS) vendors and their wares at scale, limiting the Defense Department’s access to the rapidly innovating domestic drone industry and forcing government buyers into more costly options, an industry official said on Tuesday. A related effort in the private sector to clear UAS for use by federal civilian and state agencies also suffers from scant resources, leaving them short of options and facing higher costs,…

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