Pentagon Wants $54 Billion For Drones
Source: Slashdot
Overview
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The U.S. military’s massive $1.5 trillion budget request for the next fiscal year includes what Pentagon officials described as the largest investment in drone warfare and counter‑drone technology in U.S. history. The proposed spending on drone and autonomous warfare technologies within the FY2027 budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Defense would surpass most countries’ defense budgets and rank among the top 10 in the world for military spending, ahead of nations such as Ukraine, South Korea, and Israel.
Funding Breakdown
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$53.6 billion is being requested to boost U.S. production and procurement of drones, train drone operators, build out a logistics network for sustaining drone deployments, and expand counter‑drone systems to defend more U.S. military sites. This funding is budgeted under the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), an organization established in late 2025 that received about $226 million in the 2026 fiscal year budget.
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$20.6 billion would help purchase one‑way attack drones and drone aircraft developed through the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, which is building drone prototypes capable of teaming up with human‑piloted fighter jets. Part of this funding would also go toward defensive systems for countering small drones and the U.S. Navy’s Boeing MQ‑25 drone designed to perform midair refueling of carrier‑borne fighter aircraft to extend their strike ranges. This drone‑related spending even rivals the entire budget of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Official Statements
“That $70 billion is all going into existing systems and technologies. The industrial base support is entirely separate.” – Hurst
“The evolution we’ve seen in the battlefield is this evolution of technologies in the timeframe of weeks, not the typical years we see with our defense production.” – Lt. Gen. Steven Whitney, director of force structure, resources, and assessment for the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff
“So it’s really critical we work with industry to get that capability fielded.” – Lt. Gen. Steven Whitney
The remarks were made during a Pentagon press briefing:
Press briefing video