New two-tiered Blue UAS model will allow for much greater speed and scale by providing an expanded Cleared List leveraging a third-party compliance model while DIU will focus on accelerating “best in breed” capabilities to scale; DIU challenge to allow for further operational testing and evaluation by the warfighter
May 16, 2025 (Mountain View, CA) -- Today, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is announcing changes to Blue UAS that will provide a way for companies to verify their NDAA compliance as part of a two-tiered system for Blue UAS that will allow the number of cleared systems to scale while continuing to accelerate the development and fielding of “best in breed” capabilities. Specifically, DIU will stand up the infrastructure that will enable companies to pursue and fund their own NDAA compliance assessments with trusted partners to reduce barriers to acquisition and use by DoD. At the same time, DIU is evolving Blue UAS to better provide support for “best in breed” solutions that meet Service and Combatant Command identified problem sets and capability gaps. DIU has worked closely with a broad range of stakeholders across the Department, Congress, the tech sector, and the autonomy industry in developing these changes.
“DIU is evolving Blue UAS to match the pace of change and growing variety and scale of capabilities that the commercial sector brings to unmanned systems, leveraging key authorities and budget to put the best NDAA compliant platforms in the hands of our warfighter,” said Doug Beck, director of the Defense Innovation Unit. “Making updates to Blue UAS is critical in continuing to evolve our military and our processes to prepare for tomorrow’s fight - and to ensure these programs support the accelerated development and scaling of the defense innovation base in delivering the capabilities we need.”
The first change will enable companies to pursue third-party assessments for NDAA compliance to inform potential inclusion on the Blue UAS Cleared List. Leveraging our multi-stakeholder partnership authority (10 U.S.C. § 4127(e)), DIU will select a number of capable entities that will assess UAS platforms and produce reports that enable DIU to certify compliant systems for cleared list inclusion. This effort will expand the number of drones to be available for operator testing by simplifying the Exception to Policy (ETP) process, and provide data to be used by Services for potential authority to operate (ATO). A solicitation for companies interested in providing these third-party assessments is anticipated in June.
Companies that have met both cybersecurity and NDAA requirements, through either DoD sponsorship or competitive selection, and that have received a DIU-generated or DIU-approved ATO, will now be referred to as Blue UAS Select. Companies already selected to be on the Blue List based on 2024 evaluation and selection will transition to Blue UAS Select, valid for the length of their ATO, typically 24 months. After the ATO expiration date, all drones will need to go through a Service sponsored evaluation or through a competitive process for retention of the ATO.
DIU will continue to support the modular integration and scaling of compliant components for UAS through the Blue UAS Framework. The Cleared List will continue to contribute components to the Framework.
“Not only is the team working to expand the capabilities on the Blue List, we have begun utilizing commercial best practices for continuous monitoring of software in order to provide rapid approval for software updates,” said David Michelson, DIU’s autonomy portfolio director. “These automated tools to scan code allow us to deliver updated capabilities to the warfighter in 24 to 96 hours, as compared to 12 to 18 months for traditional programs, and generate better results as well.”
DIU, which has an ongoing memorandum of understanding (MOU) for data sharing with the nonprofit organization AUVSI, will leverage the AUVSI Green UAS program for Blue UAS Cleared compliance.
As a means to continue to identify the very best drone capabilities, and to meet the warfighter’s evolving needs in the field, in June 2025 DIU will also launch the Project GI Challenge. This challenge is intended to amplify Blue UAS efforts to provide warfighters with the capabilities needed to prevail in combat.
Details on Blue UAS changes, assessing companies and the new challenge will be detailed in webinars in mid-June. Team members will be at AUVSI’s XPONENTIAL 2025 event May 19-22, 2025 to answer questions. DIU will be hosting a Blue UAS Q&A session on May 22, from 11-12:30pm CT in Room 371 DEF at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX.
DIU will continue to work with the rest of the Department, Congress and industry partners to meet greater and more consistent demand at scale, enhancing the overall viability of the industry, while simultaneously meeting the Department’s strategic warfighter needs. DIU will work closely with AUVSI and others across the ecosystem on efforts for outreach and coordination.