HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A Huntsville-based defense contractor, Performance Drone Works, LLC (PDW), is one of 25 companies invited to compete in Phase I of the Department of War’s Drone Dominance Program (DDP), an initiative to rapidly field low-cost, one-way attack drones for U.S. combat units.
PDW is headquartered in Huntsville and operates Drone Factory 01, a 90,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 400 Diamond Drive, Huntsville, supporting large-scale production of unmanned aerial systems. The company is positioned to play a central role in the Pentagon’s goal of fielding hundreds of thousands of drones by 2027.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth launched the program last year to streamline the acquisition of advanced drone technologies. “Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race,” Hegseth wrote in a July 2025 memorandum. “We are buying what works—fast, at scale, and without bureaucratic delay. Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions.”…