U.S. Central Command has created Task Force Falcon Strike, a multinational unit designed to integrate American and allied one-way attack drones and other unmanned systems into a coordinated regional deterrence network.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
U.S. Central Command is expanding the military’s use of low-cost unmanned weapons in the Middle East with the creation of a new multinational task force that will combine American drone capabilities with those of regional partners.
CENTCOM announced Thursday that Task Force Falcon Strike will bring together U.S. forces and allied militaries to operate one-way attack drones and other unmanned systems across multiple domains.
The new organization is intended to build on lessons learned from recent U.S. combat operations while giving partner nations a larger role in developing and deploying unmanned strike capabilities, according to a CENTCOM announcement.
The command oversees American military activity across the Middle East, Central Asia and portions of South Asia.
“Task Force Falcon Strike will expand on Scorpion Strike’s success given the tremendous innovation happening among our regional allies and partners,” CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said. “Integrating and deploying our new capabilities together will help us rapidly realize the new possibilities that are on the horizon.”
Falcon Strike will be directed by U.S. Special Operations Command Central, the same organization that oversaw CENTCOM’s earlier dedicated attack-drone formation, Task Force Scorpion Strike.
Scorpion Strike was established nine months ago as the U.S. military’s first unit in the Middle East devoted specifically to one-way attack drones.
The force later used one-way unmanned aerial systems during Operation Epic Fury and deployed unmanned attack vessels at sea during July strikes against Iranian port facilities.
Falcon Strike represents an effort to take those capabilities beyond a predominantly American formation and incorporate regional militaries into a broader operational structure.
CENTCOM said it has already consulted allies and partners in the region and invited them to participate.
Once those countries formally join, Falcon Strike “will scale attack drone capabilities across the Middle East into a unified multidomain, multinational deterrent,” according to the command.
“The United States military has a lot of strong partnerships and friends in the region,” Cooper said. “We are collectively stronger when we integrate and deploy new capabilities together.”
The formation of the task force reflects the rapidly changing role of drones in modern warfare.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dramatically accelerated the battlefield adoption of unmanned systems, demonstrating how relatively inexpensive drones can be used for surveillance, precision attacks, strikes against armored vehicles and infrastructure, and operations far behind conventional front lines.
What had previously been treated largely as a specialized military capability has consequently become one of the defining weapons categories of contemporary combat.
The Trump administration has responded by seeking to accelerate both production and deployment of American unmanned systems.
In June, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth established a Pentagon-wide portfolio manager responsible for coordinating the development, acquisition and fielding of most military unmanned and autonomous systems.
That initiative centralized oversight of a rapidly growing category of weapons while attempting to move new systems from development into operational units more quickly.
Hegseth had already moved to loosen acquisition restrictions the previous year.
In July 2025, he issued a memorandum granting commanders broader authority to purchase and test drones.
The directive also sought to reduce administrative barriers surrounding training and experimentation.
Among its changes was an instruction that the military treat small drones as “consumable assets” rather than durable equipment expected to remain in service for extended periods.
That approach reflects the battlefield reality that smaller unmanned systems can be lost or expended in large numbers and replaced relatively cheaply compared with traditional aircraft or other major weapons platforms.
President Donald Trump separately moved to strengthen the domestic drone industry.
In June 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at expanding American drone production and commercialization while reducing U.S. reliance on foreign suppliers.
The administration has portrayed domestic manufacturing capacity as a national security issue as well as an industrial one.
Russia and China have both invested aggressively in unmanned technologies, and the Pentagon has sought to ensure U.S. forces can field drones in sufficient quantities during a major conflict.
Falcon Strike brings that broader policy directly into CENTCOM’s operational environment.
Rather than relying exclusively on conventional aircraft, ships and missiles, the task force is intended to give U.S. forces and partner nations a shared framework for employing expendable attack drones and other autonomous or remotely operated platforms.
Its multinational structure could also allow regional allies to contribute systems developed independently of the United States while learning to operate them alongside American forces.
CENTCOM’s use of Scorpion Strike during Operation Epic Fury and subsequent attacks on Iranian port facilities provided an early demonstration of how those systems could be incorporated into active combat.
Falcon Strike is designed to expand that model substantially.
If the invited partner nations formally participate, the command intends to connect their unmanned capabilities into a broader network spanning air, maritime and potentially other operational domains.
The result would be a regional force built not around a single drone platform but around the ability of multiple countries to combine unmanned strike systems as part of a common deterrence strategy.
For CENTCOM, the new unit marks another step in moving drones from experimental programs and specialized formations into routine military operations across the Middle East.
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