- Utah’s Vector Defense seeks to optimize drone capabilities for America’s warfighters.
- Drones are signaling a new era in global warfare.
- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said the state is answering the call to build America’s drone industrial base.
Utah
Sky wars: How a Utah company is helping America keep pace in today’s global military ‘drone race’
A massive American flag stretches wide across the factory wall of Vector Defense Inc. in Bluffdale.
But “Old Glory” is not merely for decoration here.
Instead, the flag is “a reminder of what we’re doing, what we’re serving, and who we’re standing up to serve,” Vector CEO and founder Andy Yakulis told the Deseret News.
“It helps us rally around the concept that the American war fighter needs the most up-to-date technology. And right now, that’s unmanned systems drones. … We’re all very focused on achieving that mission — making sure we’re streamlining the best-in-class technology to the American war fighter.”
The minute-to-minute headlines from combat hot spots such as Ukraine and the Persian Gulf echo an emerging combat reality: Drones are changing the very character of war.
And militarized unmanned aircraft systems are presenting a battlefield paradox. Today’s drones are relatively cheap — but they are also increasingly deadly. Drones are reportedly responsible for 75% of Ukraine war casualties.
As Forbes reported, drones are not merely a new weapon — they are a new era of warfare. “The closest historical analogy may be the tank, introduced during World War I, which broke the murderous stalemate of trench warfare.”
Gov. Cox: Utah’s drone industry can protect service members — and strengthen state’s economy
Now Vector Defense Inc. — and by extension, the Beehive State — are increasingly positioned as key players in accelerating the country’s military-grade drone ecosystem.
On his LinkedIn page, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox recently announced in a video that Utah is “answering the call to build America’s drone industrial base” — while furthering American drone dominance.
The state’s growing drone industry, he noted, “strengthens our economy and supports those who defend our nation.”
National security, said Cox, depends on building critical technology quickly, reliably and at scale — and in a regulatory friendly environment.
Utah’s drone industrial base, he added, prioritizes domestic manufacturing, vertical integration, and rapid delivery to those charged with protecting the country.
“We move fast, cut through red tape, and we support companies that are willing to build here at home,” said Cox. “Government and industry will lead the way — manufacturing in Utah, integrating in Utah, and delivering real capability with speed and discipline.
“That’s how we protect our service members. That’s how we strengthen our economy.”
What’s ‘warfare as a service’?
Protecting America’s men and women in uniform while maximizing their drone capability serve as dual missions for Yakulis and his Vector team.
A West Point grad, Yakulis spent almost two decades in the U.S. Army — including significant duty serving in Special Operations.
The former Army helicopter pilot remembers utilizing military drones such as the Reaper that searches for targets and can be used to shoot missiles similar to an airplane.
“But the drones that are being used now are being used like munitions — a one-way attack,” he said. “People sometimes call them like suicide drones. That was nowhere on our radar when I was in uniform.”
Near the end of his Army tenure, Yakulis recognized a market gap as unmanned drone systems were being used in massive quantities in Ukraine as part of the nation’s ongoing war with Russia.
Simultaneously, the drone tech across Ukraine’s front lines was iterating at lightning speeds.
“And so we saw these two things change which created this revolution of military affairs. More tech being used. More drones being used. And faster iteration on the design of the drones.”
During his Army officer career, Yakulis became well acquainted with the U.S. defense procurement system. It can take several years, he said, to get a piece of technology from R&D to actually be utilized by warfighters in combat.
Given the speedy “tech refresh” pace in Ukraine, America’s legacy procurement system presents “a massive imbalance,” he added.
By launching Vector in 2024, Yakulis set out to create a new model of providing expendable — aka “attritable” — drones to the American military.
But the company does more than simply sell a piece of drone tech hardware. That’s only one component.
“We came up with this idea that I call ‘modern warfare as a service.’”
Vector sells to the military a “service-based contract” that involves training, product and capability development — and the large-scale delivery of unmanned systems.
“But because the military isn’t buying the drone, we don’t have to go through the legacy seven- to 10-year procurement model,” explained Yakulis.
“We can sell you a service today — and underneath that service provide you the best drone that exists on the market today. And then tomorrow, I can provide you with an updated drone underneath that same service contract.”
And while Vector may be headquartered in the southwest end of Salt Lake County, it functions as a global enterprise.
The company has a team stationed in Ukraine, and another in Israel. There, they observe how drone systems are being used — and then bring those insights back to Utah to update their drone training and the designs.
“We have to make a concerted effort to stay up-to-date with how warfare is constantly changing,” said Yakulis.
“That’s why it’s so important for us to have a footprint in war zones — and that’s why it’s so important to have our leadership and a lot of our engineers cycle through those war zones to make sure they understand how technology has evolved.”
What makes Utah the ideal home for drone development?
After separating from active duty military, Yakulis and his associates started the venture-backed Vector. They were eager to begin implementing their fast evolving mission and business model.
But first, Vector needed a home.
Given its density of industry talent, California’s Silicon Valley works “decently well” for software companies, said Yakulis. But it’s hard to build a manufacturing company in the Golden State.
“There’s so many regulatory restrictions on manufacturing in California, and space is just at a premium,” he said. “It’s very, very expensive to do a very large facility like we have here in Bluffdale.”
And there were also Vector’s employees to consider. The Bay Area’s cost of living rate is famously prohibitive.
But business-friendly Utah checked all the boxes, said Yakulis.
“There’s a very supportive culture here in Silicon Slopes,” he added. “And there’s a lot of value-driven, mission-driven individuals that want to work on something that matters.
“Utah’s been very welcoming to us.”
Vector quickly became part of the 47G family — a Utah aerospace and defense industry “ecosystem” of over 200 members and a variety of local academic institutions.
“And the governor,” added Yakulis, “has been incredible to us.”
Beyond its business advantages, Utah is an ideal spot for drone testing and training. “Some of my colleagues or competitors in California have to travel two or two-and-a-half hours just to fly a drone,” said Yakulis.
“We walk right out to the back of our warehouse to fly a drone.”
Meanwhile, Utah military installations such as Camp Williams and those in nearby Dugway allow Vector a venue for long-range or explosives drone testing and training.
“Just having high-density military here — which is our primary customer — and access to training areas has been phenomenal for us,” Yakulis added.
Vector employs almost 100 people, with most working in Utah.
Equipping U.S. warfighters with drone tools and know-how
Integration is a defining term at Vector.
The Ukrainians, explained Yakulis, have proven adroit at integrating with their soldiers on the front line in eastern Ukraine. Obviously, Vector can’t replicate that level of combat fusion.
“So the way that we replicate how fast we are able to iterate for the American military is we do a lot of drone training for them,” he said. “This is how we got our start — as a drone training company.”
Such schooling goes beyond simply teaching a soldier how to fly a drone from Point A to Point B. Soldiers need to know how to optimize this new weapon. So drone tactics and doctrine are being perpetually examined and reinvented.
“The technology is only as good as the tactical application of it — and you will only get the maximum effectiveness out of the tactics if you know how to use your technology,” said Yakulis.
Vector employs “a very, very interesting cohort of individuals” who are experienced tacticians that also understand technology and proper training methods.
Such a training force, said Yakulis, blends prior military personnel who are high-end tactical experts working alongside drone specialists.
Vector’s training seeks to teach American war fighters how to best utilize advanced unmanned systems. “But we’re also learning from our end user to make sure that we are building exactly what they want for the American military,” said Yakulis.
And while it’s essential to understand what, say, the Ukrainian military is doing with drones in the fight against Russia, Vector can’t simply cut-and-paste such data to the American military, he added.
“You have to embed; you have to integrate with the American military with that technology to figure out, ‘How are they going to use it?’ ‘What new feature do they want on that drone?’
“And then, back here in our Bluffdale facility, we build that new feature and provide (American war fighters) on a subsequent version of that service contract.”
Next step: Improving cost-efficient counter-drone tech
Global affairs obviously aren’t pausing for Vector or any others from the nation’s drone industry to develop the latest tech and training.
Even while speaking with the Deseret News, Yakulis was monitoring the day’s events from Operation Epic Fury — the ongoing American war with Iran.
And as with the Ukraine conflict, the U.S. and its allies are dealing with the challenges and tactical opportunities of drone weaponry.
Prior to the current ceasefire in the region, Iran launched “a massive amount of unmanned systems” to attack regional neighbors. Attritable drones are having an exponential impact on the vast Middle East battlefield — and American military leaders have prioritized attacks on Iranian drone platforms.
“I’ve been talking to the company a lot about our country being at war,” said Yakulis. “We need to be on a wartime footing too — and be thinking about how fast we’re building and how fast we’re iterating.”
Developing better and cheaper tech on the counter-drone side are now key priorities for Vector and the rest of the nation’s military/defense industry.
“It’s very hard to defeat what we call ‘attritable drone mass.’ … You can take one drone down, but can you take down 100 or 1,000, especially when decoys come in the mix?
“And can you do that at a price point that makes sense?”
“Unit economics” has become a critical warfare talking point when, say, a $2 million American Patriot missile is being used to shoot down an Iranian Shahed drone made for $35,000.
“The economics just don’t work out,” said Yakulis. “We just don’t have enough Patriot missiles — and/or we will just spend too much money trying to procure too many missiles.
“So we need to do a better job to provide a cost-equal interceptor per drone.”
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah athletics is making a notable change to the Huntsman Center gameday setup, but the move is about more than where the team sits.
The Runnin’ Utes are moving the team bench from the east side of the Jon M. Huntsman Center to the west side, returning the bench to the side it occupied during the Rick Majerus era. The change will also move the MUSS and band from the west side to the east side.
The shift is part of a larger effort by Utah Athletics to improve the student-section experience, create a more consistent setup inside the Huntsman Center and better connect the arena to the university’s growing College Town Magic initiative.
Enhancing The MUSS And Fan Experience
Nowlin said the primary motivation behind the change is improving the MUSS and the overall fan experience.
“The reason we’re doing this is we want to enhance the MUSS,” Utah’s Deputy Athletics Director & Chief Revenue Officer, Patrick Nowlin said. “As an ongoing effort, we’ve been working on for the past two years, how do we enhance the fan experience?”
One issue Utah identified was that the MUSS had been located in different areas for different events. Moving the student section and band to the east side gives the department a more consistent location to build around.
“We wanted to create a better fan experience,” Nowlin said. “We wanted to be able to have one spot that we can build on, which means we can brand. We can enhance everything about it.”
The move also ties directly into College Town Magic. Nowlin said the area around the Huntsman Center will include more than 2,900 total beds, including more than 1,400 new beds, giving students a direct path from nearby housing to the student-section entrance.
“There’s over 2,900 new beds that are right there, which will be right at the branded entrance, right where the student section is,” Nowlin said. “They don’t have to go far at all. So it’s just a walk straight down from the dorm, right in the door.”
And according to Utah’s Patrick Nowlin, the move is not limited to men’s basketball.
“It’s not just men’s basketball. It’s all Huntsman Center events,” Nowlin said.
A Nod To Utah Basketball History
While the move is primarily about fan experience, there is also a clear basketball-history component.
The west-side bench location is where Utah sat during the Majerus era, when the Runnin’ Utes were one of the top programs in the country and the Huntsman Center had a different level of edge. Alex Jensen was part of that era as a player, and now, as Utah’s head coach, the move reconnects the current program with one of its most successful periods.
Nowlin said the historical connection was part of the conversation, even if it was not solely Jensen’s decision.
“Yeah, it’s a nod to history,” Nowlin said. “I think Alex, him being here, he’s a steward of the program. There’s a lot of history to having it on that side.”
Still, Nowlin made clear the change was not simply pushed through by Jensen.
“It wasn’t a push from him,” Nowlin said. “It was a concerted effort from everybody to where, how do we create an area that the MUSS can have, but also how do we lean into our history, but still move forward in a way that we can honor that, but create an unbelievable environment.”
That is the heart of the move. Utah is trying to bring back a piece of its basketball identity while also reworking the building for the future.
How Fans Will Be Impacted
The change will affect some season-ticket holders, donors and fans seated near the current bench, MUSS and band areas, but Utah tried to limit the disruption.
Nowlin said the department spent months working through the seating impact and expects fewer than 200 accounts to be directly affected. Those accounts are in sections T, U and V.
“This wasn’t something that just came about,” Nowlin said. “We’ve been working on this for a few months now, and we wanted to find a way that we could minimize the accounts that were directly impacted, but still create the fan experience change we were after.”
Utah’s plan is to work individually with affected fans and mirror their seat location as closely as possible on the other end of the court.
“If you’re on one end and now you’re going on the other end, we will work with you to get you in the seat that is similar to where you were and allow you to have the same experience you’ve had, just on the other end of the court,” Nowlin said.
Utah will also hold a virtual seat-selection process from July 7-17, allowing fans who want to move to choose from available options.
“We’re going to take care of everybody, but we’re also going to allow people the choice and the freedom to be able to make the changes they want to make,” Nowlin said. “We want to create every opportunity we can to give our fans opportunities to choose their own experience.”
Not Part Of The Huntsman Renovation
The bench and MUSS move is not directly tied to the larger Huntsman Center renovation discussions. Nowlin said the change is instead connected to College Town Magic and Utah’s effort to improve the student and fan experience inside the building.
“It does not have to do with the renovation, but it does have to do with College Town Magic,” Nowlin said.
The move could create some new seating and premium opportunities, particularly around courtside and floor seating. Nowlin said Utah is still evaluating those possibilities.
“By doing this, this will create additional opportunities for us on courtside and floor,” Nowlin said. “We’re also looking to how do we enhance our premium experience across the board. So this is a step in a process that will continue.”
The Bottom Line
Utah’s bench move is not just a nostalgic callback to the Rick Majerus era, and it is not just a seating chart adjustment. It is part of a broader effort to reshape the Huntsman Center experience.
The team bench is moving back to the west side, where Utah sat during some of the program’s most successful years. The MUSS and band are moving to the east side, where Utah believes it can build a stronger, more consistent student-section identity tied to College Town Magic.
For Utah Athletics, it is another step toward rethinking how the Huntsman Center looks, sounds and feels on game day. For Jensen, the move reconnects the program to its winning past.
The symbolism will matter to longtime Utah basketball fans. The logistics will matter to students, band members and season-ticket holders. But the larger goal is simple: make the building feel more intentional, more connected and more like home again.
Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
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SALT LAKE CITY – The San Juan County assessor has resigned partway through his second term, following a recommendation that he be removed from office.
Rick Meyer’s resignation became effective on Monday, according to San Juan County Commissioner Lori Maughan. A copy of Meyer’s resignation letter was not immediately available.
This comes after the Utah State Tax Commission determined that Meyer had failed to follow the law and was “unfit to perform his duties.” In a letter last week to San Juan County commissioners, the tax commission recommended “the immediate removal of the San Juan County assessor from office to protect the public interest and restore the integrity of the property tax system in San Juan County.”
Among other things, Meyer was accused of failing to tax agricultural buildings, misclassifying property, and giving property tax exemptions to certain parcels, including vacant land, when he shouldn’t have.
The recommendation to remove Meyer from office was the first under a recent state law giving the Utah State Tax Commission more power to take corrective action against county assessors who aren’t doing their jobs properly. Assessors play a major role in the property tax process by determining the value of property throughout their counties.
Yet, it was unclear whether the San Juan County Commission could have actually removed Meyer from office had he not stepped down.
With Meyer’s resignation, the San Juan County Assessor’s Office has just one employee left. Deputy assessor Nathan Pitts will run the office until the San Juan County Republican Party recommends a replacement and the County Commission appoints one.
“It’s me holding down the fort here,” Pitts told KSL on Thursday, noting that he has spoken with the Utah Association of Counties and the state tax commission about plans for this interim period. “Everybody’s on board to assist and try to make it the best as we can, (but) I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me.”
Pitts said he does not plan to run for county assessor to replace his old boss.
“That is not my intention at all,” he said. “I’m quite content as a deputy assessor.”
Meyer was first elected as San Juan County assessor in 2020 and won reelection in 2024. His current term was set to conclude in 2029.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — The Rock Canyon Fire, burning in northern Arizona near the border with Utah, doubled in size overnight to 4,512 acres and was 5% contained.
The fire has caused firefighters to evacuate hikers and campers in the area, and some roads in the Kaibab National Forest are closed.
People in Jacob Lake — less than 20 miles from the Rock Canyon Fire — say the new fire is stirring up anxiety after last year’s devastating fire season. They say they’re confident in firefighters, but after the trauma, they’re still holding their breath.
Memories of last year’s fires
For over 100 years, Jacob Lake Inn has been serving cookies to guests who want to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon or explore the Kaibab National Forest. Melinda Rich Marshall’s family has owned the inn since 1923.
Last year, they were evacuated during the White Sage Fire that burned close to 60,000 acres, and then the Dragon Bravo Fire, which destroyed nearly 150,000 acres, shut down the North Rim.
Now the Rock Canyon Fire has already burned thousands of acres north of the inn.
“I mean, honestly, our reaction was not again,” Rich Marshall said. “I mean, that’s really what it was.”
Rich Marshall said last year was hard enough, so once they heard about this new fire, it brought back bad memories.
“I’d say we have a little PTSD from it, seeing smoke and smelling smoke and all those things,” she said.
Fire burning in old burn scar
The Rock Canyon Fire was sparked over the weekend by a lightning strike.
Parts of it are burning in the White Sage burn scar. Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Dolores Garcia said old burn scars will usually slow down a new fire, but this time it’s actually fueling the flames.
“In some of those areas, we’re seeing quite a bit of fuels,” Garcia said. “We’re not seeing that the burn scar is helping much, especially with the winds as strong as they’ve been in some days and as dry as it’s been, those fuels are just tender and cured and really flammable.”
She said firefighters are attacking it from the ground and the air, but the high winds are limiting their ability to make water drops.
Hikers and campers were evacuated from the area. Garcia said she knows how stressful this must be to the surrounding communities after last year’s fires.
“We still understand that, it’s still a very fresh wound to many of the people who live up there, who’ve recreated up there for years,” she said. “That’s definitely at the forefront of our minds.”
Rich Marshall said while it’s scary, they have full trust in the firefighters.
“We’re really just grateful to see them and know the work that they are doing,” she said.
Rich Marshall said this is usually their peak season, but they’ve seen a bit of a slowdown even after the North rim reopened. She said people can support them by staying there or even just stopping in and getting some of their famous cookies.
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