Hegseth Orders Pentagon Drone Surge

Defense Department wants small and cheap UAVs that can be used as munitions.

Zach Vasile

Friday, July 11, 2025 at 03:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Ryan Ewing

U.S. Customs and Border Protection began flying the MQ-9 Reaper, or Predator B, in 2005 and uses it primarily to survey the southern border. [Courtesy: General Atomics]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Defense Department is implementing sweeping changes to its drone strategy to gain a strategic advantage, aiming to rapidly scale up procurement and deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Key policy shifts include decentralizing procurement authority to lower-ranking officers, allowing them to independently acquire and test low-cost, commercial, and 3D-printed drones for combat training without higher approval.
Small drones will be reclassified as "consumables" rather than military assets, streamlining their acquisition and promoting a mindset of rapid, expendable deployment, influenced by lessons from conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine war.
This initiative seeks to overcome bureaucratic hurdles, accelerate drone production to catch up with adversaries, and includes plans to remove flight restrictions and establish a domestic drone supplier database.

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The U.S. Defense Department has announced sweeping changes to its military drone procurement and deployment practices as it seeks to gain a strategic edge over adversaries like Russia, Iran, and China.

A memo authored by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instructs Pentagon officials to ramp up orders of low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles. For the first time, officers with the rank of colonel or captain will be able to independently procure and test drones, including 3D-printed vehicles and commercial off-the-shelf models. They will also have the freedom to integrate drones into every level of combat training without seeking approval from higherups.