Launched-effects drones now fly with all but one Army division, and the last is next

By the end of 2026, every Army headquarters division is supposed to have launched-effects drones in its inventory, and the tally stood at 11 of 12 on Nov. 9. The twelfth division is slated to receive its share in December, which would close out a fielding goal set in a Pentagon memo only about a year earlier.

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Launched effects are unmanned aircraft or payloads released from crewed aircraft, ground vehicles or ships. The Army is buying versions that carry intelligence-gathering gear, electronic-warfare packages and kinetic warheads, rather than betting the program on one mission.

Eleven divisions, three task forces and a year-end deadline

Lt. Col. Hunter Gray, the product manager for launched effects under the Army’s Program Acquisition Executive for Maneuver Air, gave the status to reporters, according to Breaking Defense. A separate defense-tech intelligence brief adds that each of the Army’s three multi-domain task forces has also received the systems. The deadline traces to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s 2025 Drone Dominance memo, which told every headquarters division and every multi-domain task force to be equipped by the end of 2026.

What the public record does not show is which divisions are done. The Army did not answer Breaking Defense’s questions on that point, and Gray did not say how many aircraft have been delivered in total. Only the proportion is firm: 11 of 12 divisions, with the last one next month, meaning December.

The same reporting puts the launched-effects push beside a harder problem in the lower ranks. In September, Col. Gregory Merkl, the Army’s lead for Drone Dominance, said the service had enough small one-way attack drones for every squad but had not yet distributed them to all squads, and that it lacked enough trained operators. The squad target was set for the end of fiscal 2026, so the division count is the cleaner scoreboard while the squad count remains open. The intelligence brief adds a caution of its own: fielding shows an installed base and distribution, not proven effectiveness in every unit, and no funded sustainment requirement had been identified, so the refresh cycle is unconfirmed.

Griffon Aerospace and the claim of hundreds a month

Most of what has been delivered comes from one supplier. Gray said the majority are long-range systems from Griffon Aerospace, a company whose launched-effects family includes the Outlaw drone, and he explained the lead plainly: Griffon is the vendor the Army has been able to scale the most, given the priority placed on the work. Griffon says it can supply hundreds of systems a month and went from an identified need to a first delivered tranche in about three weeks, and the company describes its own background on its corporate history page.

Gray also described how payload choices vary. Demand rises and falls with the concept of operations of each unit, he said, which is why the buy spans sensing, jamming and strike payloads instead of a single configuration.

Griffon’s president, Jordan French, did not disclose which of its platforms have reached units. Griffon is not new to Pentagon drone work, though: DARPA named it as one of five performers in the Early VTOL Aircraft Demonstration program when that effort was announced in June 2025, alongside AeroVironment, Karem Aircraft, Method Aeronautics and Sikorsky.

Other transaction authority and the drone marketplace

Ski Horrocks, deputy program manager for unmanned aerial systems under the same program executive office, credited the contracting machinery for the pace. “The real magic behind the marketplace is all the rapid acquisition authorities and the contract vehicles,” he said. The Army uses other transaction authorities to award vendors a place on the Defense Department’s drone marketplace, a route that moves faster than traditional contracts under the Federal Acquisition Regulation. The Army’s digital storefront for drones officially opened in March 2026, and the approach fits the broader overhaul described in an earlier Breaking Defense report on acquisition reform.

The Army’s own portfolio write-up, published July 24, shows where the program is heading beyond the first wave. The service groups launched effects by range (short, medium and long) and by payload, and it says the Long-Range Precision Munition has moved from prototype to production-line validation, with fielding targeted for fiscal 2027. Dan Bailey, deputy director of the Aviation Future Capability Directorate, framed the Army portfolio article this way: “Launched Effects are not just stand-alone tools; they are networked combat enablers.”

What December has to deliver

The twelfth division is the last box on the 2026 checklist, and December is the only date on offer. If the delivery slips, the year-end goal in the Drone Dominance memo would be missed by one division out of twelve, a small gap on paper that would still be measured against a deadline the Army set for itself.

The unanswered questions are practical ones. The Army has not said which divisions hold the drones, how many each received, or whether trained crews are in place to launch them. Gray’s pitch is speed and scale from commercial supply chains, and Griffon’s claimed output of hundreds a month will be tested the moment the last division and the squad-level demand arrive at the same time.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.