Copyright ZeroHedge
Nearly four months after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced sweeping reforms aimed at achieving "drone domain dominance" by 2027, including a Pentagon-wide procurement overhaul led by the DOGE, Reuters reports that the U.S. Army is preparing to acquire at least one million drones over the next few years, marking one of the largest drone procurement cycles in the military service's history. Learning from the modern battlefield in Ukraine, the Army plans a massive ramp-up in drones: purchasing at least a million drones over the next 2-3 years, with potential purchases of half a million or more per year thereafter. This is a significant jump from today's 50,000 drones per year procurement cycle, and comes as Russia and China have ramped up production of their own. U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll told Reuters that this new drone acquisition plan is a "big lift. But it is a lift we're very capable of doing." Here's more from the report: He spoke by phone during a visit to Picatinny Arsenal, where he described learning about experimentation with "net rounds," defenses that capture a drone in nets, as well as new explosives and electromagnetic tools synched into weapon systems. Driscoll and Picatinny's top commander, Major General John Reim, spoke to Reuters about how the United States was taking lessons from Russia's war in Ukraine, which has been characterized by drone deployments on an unprecedented scale. Tiny, inexpensive drones have proven to be one of the most potent weapons in the Russia-Ukraine war, where conventional warplanes are relatively rare because of a dense concentration of anti-aircraft systems near front lines. Ukraine and Russia each produce roughly 4 million drones a year, but China is probably able to produce more than double that number, Driscoll said. Driscoll said his priority is getting the United States into a position where it can produce enough drones for any future war, stimulating domestic production of everything from brushless motors and sensors to batteries and circuit boards. . . . "We expect to purchase at least a million drones within the next two to three years," Driscoll said. President Trump's June executive order to "unleash American drone dominance" calls for scaling up domestic production. However, the challenge lies in the fact that supply chains for critical components, such as brushless motors, sensors, batteries, and chips, remain concentrated in China and other Southeast Asian countries. "Drones are the future of warfare and America will come from behind to lead the way," Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire stated over the summer on X. Maguire is right. Listen to Erik Prince's conversations from earlier this year about the future of warfighting, small drones equipped with shaped charges are beginning to eliminate the need for snipers on the battlefield. The operational range is shifting from 1,000 yards with a scoped battle rifle to several miles with a drone controller. As we noted last month, the Pentagon's DOGE unit is overseeing the complete overhaul of America's lagging drone program. Drone stocks, including Red Cat, AeroVironment, and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, have soared since Trump's early June EO on drones. In the private markets, Palmer Luckey's Anduril Industries has drawn significant attention for its cutting-edge drone technology.
