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Drone warfare is emerging as a central strategic tool in the Trump administration’s plan to expand American military power.
The U.S. pioneered remotely piloted weapons during the war on terrorism in the post-9/11 era, when the term “drone” became a verb for effective strikes against al Qaeda figures in several corners of the world. The military term for missile attacks by large Predator and later Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles was simply “death from above.”
Since the early 2020s, drone weaponry has advanced dramatically from those initial, long-range missile carriers to an entirely new generation of warfare that has come into sharper focus during the Russia-Ukraine war.
In one recent two-day period, Russia fired 355 Iranian-made Shahed-type drones, including decoys, at Ukrainian targets. The wide-scale use of such one-way attack quadcopters and other pilotless aircraft underscores how drone warfare is rapidly becoming the face of modern warfare.
It’s not just Russia and Iran. Other U.S. adversaries are now in the drone manufacturing game, often pioneering inexpensive ways to mass-produce basic but deadly small drones.
China has notably developed a vast slate of drones for attack and support operations and is said to be producing as many as 100,000 small drones monthly. By contrast, the U.S. defense industrial base produces about 5,000 to 6,000 small drones monthly.
Under President Trump, however, the Pentagon is engaged in an increasingly aggressive push to accelerate the delivery of advanced, small and versatile drone systems to American warfighters across the services. New and established U.S. defense contractors are scrambling in unprecedented ways to develop and scale the production of the transformative technology at a small fraction of the cost of producing more conventional large drone platforms.
Today’s drones include unmanned aircraft, robot bomb-laden warships and underwater vehicles, and increasingly space weapon drones that are expected to be ready for conflicts with China or other adversaries.
Several companies are developing swarms of hundreds of small drones to overwhelm air defenses and unmanned combat aircraft that will take to the skies with manned fighter jets. Cargo drones are planned to ferry military supplies and ammunition to troops in the field.
U.S. officials say adversaries such as China and Russia might use drones the size of insects to deliver biological weapons to enemy forces. Other drones are ready to conduct electronic warfare attacks and already are gathering intelligence and conducting reconnaissance, all made smarter with the increasing use of artificial intelligence.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is fully on board. This month, he announced a major drone initiative, declaring that “drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation.” He signed a directive dramatically delivered to him in front of a camera by a hovering quadcopter.
The directive orders all senior Pentagon and military leaders to adopt a new drone warfare strategy as a centerpiece of military innovation. In Ukraine, most of the reported 400,000 to 700,000 casualties this year were caused by Russian drone strikes, it notes.
“Our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year,” the defense secretary said in the order. “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 Pentagon is canceling restrictive drone policies implemented under the Biden administration, and the Trump administration has requested billions of dollars for drones in the fiscal 2026 budget. The Pentagon wants $13.6 billion for autonomous military systems, including $9.4 billion for unmanned and remotely piloted vehicles.
The request calls for autonomous land vehicles to receive $210 million and $1.7 billion for Army sea drones, including $7.34 million for autonomous underwater vehicles. Army reconnaissance drones would be funded with $1.1 billion, and software development for all military services’ drone programs could be funded with $1.2 billion.
The Navy wants $5.3 billion for its autonomous programs, an increase of $2.2 billion from last year, to procure three Boeing MQ-25 drone refueling tankers and air, sea and underwater drones.
Transformative impact
Drone warfare captured the world’s attention recently in the Ukrainian military’s daring covert attack inside Russia using truck-launched drones that struck some 40 strategic bombers parked on runway aprons at air bases.
Then Israel shocked militaries around the world with similar covert strikes against Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists after setting up a secret drone base inside Iran.
To better battle enemy drones, such as those Ukraine used from trucks and the Israeli drone base inside Iran, the Pentagon has requested $3.1 billion for countering unmanned systems.
Military analysts see another front line in the emerging contest for drone warfare dominance: the Taiwan Strait, a 100-mile-wide waterway separating the self-ruled island democracy of Taiwan from the communist-ruled mainland. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made annexing the island a “core” interest of Beijing.
Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, commander of the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific Command, regards drone warfare as a central element in his strategy of deterring China.
“I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities so I can make their lives utterly miserable for a month, which buys me the time for the rest of everything,” the four-star admiral said in June 2024.
In October, he told The Washington Times that his “hellscape” drone concept grew out of the Pentagon’s Replicator program. This Biden-era initiative pushed drone designs to several defense contractors, which are expected to rapidly produce large numbers at a low cost.
“The emphasis for Replicator is accessible, technologies applicable to the 21st century, like unmanned, autonomous vessels in this case, of sea denial or air denial capabilities in tight, enclosed spaces that would be applicable to these geographies,” said Adm. Paparo, referring to the western Pacific.
Without providing details, he said Replicator’s drone systems are being delivered and tested. The hellscape program is said to have strengthened deterrence over just two years to a level that would have taken 10 years had the Pentagon’s traditional defense procurement system been used.
Private-sector scramble
Details of hellscape’s thousands of drone weapons remain closely held secrets.
However, the systems are reported to include the Switchblade 600, manufactured by Virginia-based AV, formerly known as AeroVironment; the Hero-120 suicide autonomous attack aircraft made by UVision, an Israeli company that produces drones in the U.S. through a partnership with the Virginia-based Science Applications International Corp.; and the one-way attack unmanned surface vessel known as the Muskie M18, manufactured by Florida-based Maritime Tactical Systems.
The Navy’s high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, the MQ-4C Triton maritime patrol drone, manufactured by Northrop Grumman, and other secret drone systems are also said to be part of hellscape.
California-based Anduril and Shield AI are developing advanced drones that could have roles. Shield AI produces the V-BAT drone, which features “Hivemind” technology, and the company says it has the “world’s best AI pilot.”
Recently, Florida-based L3Harris rolled out a slate of “multi-role vehicles that can easily integrate and launch from air, ground or maritime platforms.” The company launched Red Wolf and Green Wolf, which it described as “flexible, modular and featur[ing] advanced software for in-flight collaboration and re-targeting,” while being able to “support swarming capability of autonomous aircraft.”
It remains to be seen whether those products will be featured within hellscape.
The Air Force has large numbers of MQ-9 Reaper drones, manufactured by General Atomics, and has conducted simulated strikes against Chinese targets on disputed islands in the South China Sea.
In April, Marine Lt. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson, head of Marine Corps Training and Education Command, said drones and small guided munitions will be used like rifles.
One initiative, the Marine Corps Attack Drone Team, uses “first-person-view drones.”
Gen. Watson said the service is working on how to “bring these in, at scale, and we turn a rifleman into somebody who cannot just kill an adversary with a precision weapon at 500 meters but can do it out at 15 to 20 kilometers.”
The Army is also fielding new tactical drone systems for troops.
“Combat is moving into a very drone-heavy type of warfare,” said 1st Lt. Alexis Gavrillis, a military intelligence officer with the Army’s 317th Brigade Engineer Battalion at a base in Romania. “With reconnaissance, fires and other capabilities, these are going to help the Army get one step closer to modernizing the way we fight.”
Army units employed MQ-1 Predator drones, also a General Atomics platform, during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Today, the service is using short- and medium-range reconnaissance drones, including the Skydio system, manufactured by California-based Skydio, which can fly for 30 minutes at a range of 1.8 to 3.7 miles.
Across the services
Another medium-range Army system is Ghost-X, produced by Anduril. It has a range of 9 to 15 miles and an hourlong flight time.
Benjamin Jensen, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the military services are exploring several types of drone systems and loitering munitions.
Army drones include quadcopters that can drop bombs and sensors on unmanned ground vehicles at small unit levels. “The focus is on enabling front-line innovation and tactical creativity,” Mr. Jensen said.
The Navy is working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on unmanned surface vessels in a program called No Manning Required Ship.
“These semi-autonomous platforms are part of a broader strategy for distributed maritime operations, allowing the fleet to project power, conduct [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance], and launch strikes with reduced operational risk,” Mr. Jensen said. “By operating independently or in coordinated swarms, these vessels support both conventional missions and unconventional naval warfare in contested environments.”
The Air Force drone program includes the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, which is being developed by Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. It features human-machine systems that fly with crewed aircraft. The drones are expected to be able to conduct electronic warfare, attack enemy air defenses and carry out deep-strike missions.
The Marines are using drones for coastal operations in ways that will enhance maneuver warfare, Mr. Jensen said. “These capabilities are particularly useful in island chains and coastal terrain, where dispersed formations must scout, strike, and deceive in fluid environments,” he said.
Not everyone in the national security community supports the drone-oriented military strategy.
Retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell, a Chinese expert and former intelligence director for the Pacific Fleet, said the Navy, in particular, must focus on building more ships to strengthen naval power and reach in confronting China.
Aerial and surface drones lack the range of manned ships and aircraft in the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean that would involve a conflict with China.
Mr. Fanell said the Pentagon needs to set clear priorities on spending and weapons procurement, including a major buildup of warships and submarines.
“Those who promote drones are misled and mistaken,” he said. “America cannot defeat the [People’s Liberation Army] navy with only drones, which is what many in D.C. are pushing.”
Adm. Paparo, the Indo-Pacific commander, also has said drones alone will not be enough to confront the threat from China. He has said that U.S. forces will be required to maintain air and maritime superiority with traditional manned systems.
• Guy Taylor contributed to this report.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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