The US Army wants to recruit over 100 drone experts to help boost domestic defenses — here's how you can sign up

Gauntlet III is an upcoming evaluation exercise within the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance initiative. Its purpose is to compare competing aircraft designs under realistic military testing. The exercise matters because its results will help officials decide which emerging drones are ready for wider use.

The Defense Innovation Unit is recruiting service members with first-person-view, or FPV, experience for the evaluations. Operators may fly experimental aircraft and assess how well they perform in different mission settings and with different levels of pilot skill.

Gauntlet III is only one part of a larger effort. The Pentagon is committing $1.1 billion to expand domestic drone production and military capabilities. DIU also plans a permanent database of qualified operators, creating a continuing pool of testers beyond this single competition.

The Pentagon is recruiting approximately 100 drone operators for Gauntlet III. These personnel will help evaluate emerging military aircraft as the US Army and Defense Innovation Unit work to strengthen domestic defenses. The recruitment focuses on service members with FPV drone experience.

The $1.1 billion figure is the initiative’s stated funding commitment. It supports a broader Pentagon effort to expand domestic drone production and military capabilities, rather than simply paying for one evaluation event. The article does not break the money into specific program components.

Although officials expect about 100 operators for the exercise, registration itself is unrestricted. Erin Cherry said there is no cap on the registry and that the Pentagon wants to hear from any warfighter with FPV experience. DIU intends to maintain a permanent database of qualified operators.

An FPV drone is an aircraft controlled through the live feed from an onboard camera. This gives the operator direct visual guidance while flying. The article connects FPV drones with scouting, surveillance, reconnaissance, offensive missions, and precision strikes.

Operators usually fly these drones in “acro” mode. This manual setting leaves attitude control entirely to the pilot instead of relying on flight software. The operator must continuously manage the aircraft’s movement and orientation, making flying ability an important part of testing.

That skill matters especially during long-distance navigation or flights between buildings. The Pentagon is therefore seeking more than one kind of pilot expertise. It wants to compare aircraft across different environments and proficiency levels, including pilots with only five months of FPV experience.

Service members can register through the official Pilot Interest Form on the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance recruitment platform. They must provide a valid military email ending in .mil. Registration is open regardless of experience, but applicants must coordinate with their military branch, and signing up does not guarantee selection.

The Pentagon wants pilots with varied backgrounds because drone skill has several parts. Erin Cherry identified flying ability, tactical knowledge, payload experience, long-distance navigation, and urban flight as distinct skills. A pilot experienced in one area may offer useful evidence even without broad experience across every drone type.

Limited experience is valuable too. Officials want to learn whether aircraft remain effective outside expert hands. Comparing pilots with five years of FPV experience and those with five months can show how accessible and dependable each design may be.

The operators will help assess competing drone technologies during Gauntlet III. They may operate recently developed aircraft, including experimental models that American forces have not yet placed into regular service. Their testing will give officials comparable evidence about how different designs perform.

The key mechanism is hands-on evaluation by pilots with varied skills. Operators can test flying ability, tactical use, payload handling, long-distance navigation, and movement between buildings. Some will also receive instruction on expendable attack drones, which are designed to strike objectives rather than return.

The missions reflect the range of tasks described in the article. FPV aircraft can support scouting, surveillance, reconnaissance, precision strikes, and offensive operations. Testing across these settings should reveal whether a drone works only under expert control or remains useful across different operators and environments.

The pilots’ assessments will give the Pentagon evidence for procurement decisions. Officials intend to prioritize aircraft that perform effectively during competitive trials. This makes operator feedback important because testing can separate promising designs from those that look capable only in limited conditions.

A central test is whether a drone works for more than an expert pilot. Operators with different experience levels will fly aircraft in varied settings, including long-distance routes and urban spaces. Their results can show how much training, skill, or specialized knowledge each design requires.

The article does not state a specific timetable for entering service. It does indicate that successful evaluations could influence which aircraft the military buys. Strong performance may support faster movement toward procurement, while poor performance or narrow usability could reduce priority, but the exact process and schedule are not provided.

Drones are useful because FPV aircraft give operators direct visual guidance through onboard camera feeds. This helps pilots observe areas and guide aircraft during surveillance and reconnaissance. The same control can support offensive missions and precision strikes against designated objectives.

Their small-aircraft control and camera view also help in confined environments. The article specifically mentions operations between buildings, where navigation requires considerable skill and continuous attention. Long-distance navigation is another specialized capability that operators may bring to testing.

The value depends on both the aircraft and the pilot. A drone must perform effectively across mission environments, not only in ideal conditions or an expert’s hands. That is why the Pentagon is recruiting pilots with different tactical, payload, navigation, and urban-flight experience to evaluate real operational usefulness.