A recent drone industry display at the Pentagon provided U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth with the opportunity to emphasize the growing need for lower-cost drones for the battlefield. He explained in an earlier memorandum of understanding how uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) are changing the nature of warfare, as evidenced by their use in Ukraine versus the Soviet Union: “Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, accounting for most of this year's casualties in Ukraine.” Hegseth added “Our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year,” to emphasize the need for the U.S. government to work with drone manufacturers to increase the number of low-cost drones on the battlefield and eliminate any advantage that U.S. adversaries might have in the technology.
In working more closely with drone manufacturers, the U.S. Department of Defense hoped to achieve three goals: prioritizing purchase of American-made drones, arming combat units with low-cost drones, and training with drones in realistic battlefield scenarios. President Donald J. Trump, who signed an executive order on June 6, 2025, to accelerate drone production, said that he supports reducing regulatory uncertainty and streamlining approval and certification processes for safe and secure drone production. Trump added that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and DoD will coordinate to streamline the approval processes to expand access to airspace for conducting drone training.
