The U.S. military aims to spend a lot of money to acquire cheap drones and is looking toward innovators that can deliver the goods.
Details on the Pentagon’s $152 billion spending plan are becoming clearer and while they include big budget items ranging from the Trump administration’s controversial Golden Dome missile defense system to new submarines that cost billions, there is a major effort to correct a shortfall in battlefield drones that cost a few thousand dollars each. But while each one is relatively inexpensive, a plan to purchase hundreds of thousands of them quickly makes the money involved significant.
The importance of drones can’t be underestimated. Drones are the defining feature of the Ukraine/Russia war. Ukraine says its “Army of Drones” accounts for 80% of enemy targets destroyed, adding that there were 819,737 video-confirmed hits in 2025. Among the most widely used is the Vampire bomber drone by Ukrainian maker Skyfall which now has an annual production of 100,000 at a cost of about $8,500 each.
The Pentagon plans to make low-cost drone purchases to bring its capabilities up to par. A deal with Ukraine as a drone supplier was in the news in 2025 but it is unclear what the current status is.
Regardless, the Pentagon wants to ensure a domestic drone pipeline. The Pentagon is currently in the testing phase of its Drone Dominance Program in which 25 vendors are putting their low-cost, one-way attack drones through “The Gauntlet” at Fort Benning, Georgia, to determine which ones will advance to the next phase of the program. Drones up for consideration must pass a cybersecurity examination and have as few foreign-made components as possible, the latter requirement being a significant challenge as China dominates the drone supply chain.
Gauntlet testing is set for every six months until 2028. The Pentagon says it will spend $150 million to develop prototypes that pass muster. Ultimately, the Pentagon plans to invest $1 billion in U.S. domestic drone production. The Pentagon says it plans to acquire 300,000 low-cost drones from five primary suppliers with a target price of $5,000 each by the end of the program. Among the high priorities are attack drones that take out enemy drones. Using costly munitions worth millions of dollars apiece to counter inexpensive enemy drones is financially unacceptable, says the Pentagon.
Flight isn’t necessarily a requirement. There also are innovative opportunities related to drones. For example, Texas-based startup Breaker Industries has raised $6 million to develop AI software that lets a single operator control multiple drones at once using voice commands. The software runs fully on each drone so it operates when communications are jammed.
Similarly, PowerLight Technologies is developing a method to recharge drone batteries while still in flight using a laser at altitudes of up to 5,000 feet and at a distance of several kilometers. The company calls it a “wireless power line in the sky.”
The U.S. military also is seeking a drone container-style launcher for multiple drone that would work for both ground and naval operations.
Drone funding is widespread across the Pentagon. One area of high interest to the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group is developing ways for land, sea and air drones to communicate with each other without human intervention.
Across the services, the Army is to get $74 million for a drone fighting vehicle. The Navy gets $2.1 billion for drone boats like the Sea Hunter and another $1.3 billion for underwater drone variants. And high in the sky, veteran drone operator General Atomics is altering a loitering MQ-9 model to work as a flying drone truck housing a variety of task-specific drones. General Atomics also is developing a robot wingman for the U.S. Air Force known as “Dark Merlin” as part of the USAF’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) project.
