JIFX advances military drone and AI technologies

Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) events are accelerating the development of technologies designed for battlefield advantage in contested environments. These experiments focus on a wide range of capabilities, including autonomous swarming, artificial intelligence, machine learning, uncrewed drones, counter-drone detection, and high-energy laser weapon systems.

During an experimentation week in August 2026, nearly 200 uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sorties were conducted at Camp Roberts in southern Monterey County, California. This brings the total to 635 sorties flown over the past year during quarterly JIFX events hosted by the Naval Postgraduate School.

Several companies are participating in the U.S. Department of War’s Drone Dominance Program (DDP) competition, which is scheduled to conclude in 2027. Participants include ModalAI, Firestorm, and Greensight. ModalAI has reportedly shipped over 2,000 drones to the program, and Gambit Defense has utilized ModalAI quadcopters to test AI-enabled networking and autonomy systems in contested environments.