(Washington, D.C.) The U.S. military is preparing to procure millions of drones to bolster its capabilities for any future war. The U.S. War Department has urged its contractors to accelerate weapons development, or they will lose their chance of securing contracts.
Reuters reported on Friday (November 7) that U.S. Army Secretary Driscoll said in a telephone interview that the U.S. Army plans to procure at least one million drones over the next two to three years, and potentially procure 500,000 to several million more annually thereafter.
He said, "We expect that within the next year or two, we will be able to ensure that, in the event of a conflict, we can launch a sufficiently fast and robust supply chain to manufacture any number of drones we need."
Driscoll acknowledged that the Army currently procures only about 50,000 drones annually, making the new procurement plan a daunting task. "It's a big leap, but we are very capable of achieving this."
He pointed out that the U.S. has learned from the experience gained in the Russia-Ukraine war. The deployment and scale of drones used in this war were unprecedented, proving that small and inexpensive drones were among the most effective weapons; in contrast, traditional fighter jets were largely ineffective due to the proliferation of anti-aircraft systems along the front lines.
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Driscoll stated that his top priority is ensuring the U.S. can produce enough drones to cope with any future war. To this end, he will push for a range of related domestic production, manufacturing various components from brushless motors and sensors to batteries and circuit boards. Currently, most of this production is dominated by China.
He revealed that Ukraine and Russia produce approximately 4 million drones annually, while China's output is likely more than double that number.
Meanwhile, U.S. War Secretary Hergses warned Pentagon contractors to accelerate weapons development or face obsolescence.
Speaking to military commanders and defense industry executives at the National War College on Friday, Hergses said, "Large defense contractors need to change, focus on speed and scale, and invest money to achieve this goal. If they do, the War Department will certainly strongly support profitability. After all, we are all capitalists. But if they don't, these large companies will have to gradually exit the market."
Regarding accelerating drone development, Hergses also emphasized that speed is more important than broad regulation.
Attendees at the meeting included executives from major corporations such as defense and aerospace company Lockheed Martin, software company Palantir Technologies, and defense technology company Northrop Grumman.
Hergses also announced a comprehensive overhaul of the arms procurement mechanism, streamlining red tape to enable the U.S. military to acquire new technologies more quickly amid rising global threats.
He stated that the reforms aimed to address the problem of slow military procurement. Pentagon officials believe that fragmented accountability mechanisms and inadequate incentives hinder the U.S. military's ability to rapidly deploy new technologies.
The War Department will establish a Project Procurement Department directly responsible for major weapons projects. The procurement process will only involve the project manager, the procurement head of the new department, and then the procurement heads of each service branch, without any intermediate approvals.
