The Pentagon has announced sweeping new changes intended to surge the fielding of small drones, including weaponized types, across the entire U.S. military. Most notably, certain types of smaller uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) will now be treated as “consumables,” more akin to hand grenades and other kinds of ammunition, than aircraft, which has broad ramifications. Lower-level commanders will now also be able to procure smaller UASs directly, as well as authorize subordinates to operate them. The new policies rolled out today represent a huge shift that could not come soon enough for the U.S. military, which has continued to move extremely slowly to field drones on a widespread basis, even as lessons learned in blood from active battlefields have become ever more pronounced.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the new drone policies today with a glitzy video, seen below, in which a small uncrewed aerial system brings him a copy of the official memo. A full copy of this document, which is titled “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance,” can be found here. Hegseth highlighted the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, where small drones, especially first-person-view kamikaze types and ones configured to drop small munitions, have become an omnipresent factor on both sides of the fighting, as a key driving force behind the changes. As TWZ regularly notes, the expanding use of drones, including small weaponized commercial designs, and the threats they present, far predate the war in Ukraine.
“Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, accounting for most of this year’s casualties in Ukraine. Our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year,” Hegseth wrote in his memo. “While global military drone production skyrocketed over the last three years, the previous administration deployed red tape. U.S. units are not outfitted with the lethal small drones the modern battlefield requires.”
The memo outlines three central lines of effort behind the new policies.
“First, we will bolster the nascent U.S. drone manufacturing base by approving hundreds of American products for purchase by our military,” it says. “Leveraging private capital flows that support this industry, our overt preference is to Buy American.”
With regard to this point, the memo also notes the U.S. military’s intention to leverage an executive order President Donald Trump signed in June, titled “Unleashing American Drone Dominance,” which was aimed at spurring America’s domestic drone developments for military and non-military applications.
“Second, we 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 [artificial intelligence] experts,” the memo adds. “Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race. Modern battlefield innovation demands a new procurement strategy that fuses manufacturers with our frontline troops.”
In terms of the most significant specific policy changes, Group 1 and Group 2 UASs will now be “accounted for as consumable commodities, not durable property,” according to a more detailed attachment to the memo. “Small UAS resemble munitions more than high-end airplanes. They should be cheap, rapidly replaceable, and categorized as consumable.”
The Pentagon defines Group 1 drones as ones that weigh up to 20 pounds, can fly up to an altitude of 1,200 feet, and can reach speeds of up to 100 knots. The next tier up, Group 2, includes types with gross weights between 21 and 55 pounds, that can get up to an altitude of 3,500 feet, and hit top speeds of up to 250 knots.
Another provision in the attachment also directs the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, currently U.S. Air Force Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, to work with the Undersecretaries of Defense for Research and Engineering (R&E) and Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S) to explore whether the same categorization could be applied to Group 3 drones. The definition of a Group 3 UAS is one weighing between 55 and 1,320 pounds, able to fly at altitudes between 3,500 and 18,000 feet, and with a top speed between 100 and 250 knots.
