To that end, the US Defense Department has recognized developing and fielding war-worthy drones as a top priority. Using a bit of showmanship, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appeared in a video announcement of the Pentagon's push to dominate the combat drone market space. Walking and talking on the parade ground in front of the Pentagon's River Entrance, he explained to the television audience his intention to make drones, especially weaponized ones, a priority for the five-sided building. As Hegseth wrapped up his monologue, a quadcopter drone hovered over his head, carrying a piece of paper. The Secretary reached up, took the paper from the drone, and, as similar quadcopter drones hovered around him, signed the paper – a July 10 memorandum for "Senior Pentagon Leadership, Commanders of the Combatant Commands, Directors of Defense Agencies." The subject was "Unleashing US Military Drone Dominance." Okay, the scene was a little sappy, but the walk-and-talk visual message was unmistakable: Drones are going to be a significant part of America’s warfighting capability.
The memorandum listed the following three missions at the forefront of American drone dominance:
1. The US will "bolster the nascent US drone manufacturing base by approving hundreds of American products for purchase by our military."
2. The Pentagon will "power a technological leapfrog, arming our combat units with a variety of low-cost drones made by America's world-leading engineers and AI experts."
3. In keeping with a persistent theme at the Defense Department, "we'll train as we expect to fight. To simulate the modern battlefield, senior officers must overcome the bureaucracy's instinctive risk-aversion on everything from budgeting to weaponizing and training."
The Key to Success: Building Infrastructure, Cutting Bureaucratic Red Tape
The key to making the drone initiative a success will be eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic policies and inappropriately cumbersome regulations. To achieve this end, "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is directing every US Army squad to be armed with small, one-way attack drones by the end of fiscal 2026, while also enabling troops to modify small drones as necessary in the field as part of a push to break through policy and acquisition barriers," Breaking Defense reported.
Other initiatives include designating small drones as "consumables" rather than durable assets that must be accounted for using legacy tracking systems. This gives drones the status of ammunition that will be expended. Estimates for production are in the range of 10,000 units per month. To manage the new push on drones, each military service is directed to establish a dedicated UAS program office to apply best practices and control processes focused on the rapid acquisition of drone systems. However, in the rush to field tens of thousands of drones, several challenges must be addressed. Arguably, the Ukrainians are the most adept at deploying the technology. Among the lessons learned during the life and death struggle for drone superiority were, according to Ukrainska Pravda 25, a Ukrainian news source:
"A multitude of different drones, components, specifications, and related equipment is overwhelming logistics, slowing training, and delaying the deployment of drones in combat. Moreover, supplying various types of ammunition with different loading procedures can even result in injuries among military personnel … Software developers encounter greater challenges in creating high-quality solutions without a unified hardware standard. Component manufacturers struggle to scale production without standard specifications."
Getting combat drones to the warfighters in valid numbers is one thing; developing an industrial base to sustain those numbers is equally important. Additionally, to be as effective as possible, even with hundreds of vendors having as many interchangeable parts as possible will be crucial, particularly for batteries. As the Ukrainians found out, having standard hardware will be a challenge. However, the US is in the drone race now. And it's in it to win.
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The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
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