Defense Secretary Hegseth Issues Order for all U.S. Military Formations to Incorporate Small, Cheap Drones into Training

Considering the revolution in drone warfare going on in Ukraine right now, every servicemember should learn how to fly and operate a drone:

The Pentagon wants more small, cheap, easily replaced drones in the hands of troops as quickly as possible, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he is cutting red tape to make that happen. Hegseth, dressed in a dark-colored suit, took to the Pentagon’s parade field on Thursday to record a video announcing his policies on new small drones — officially, unmanned aerial systems — and promoting his memorandum on the matter as an American Flag-bearing drone was flown to him by a service member. Hegseth said the memo would build off a June 6 executive order issued by President Donald Trump meant to boost America’s commercial drone manufacturing and integrate them into the nation’s transportation and military sectors. “This is the future,” Hegseth said over the buzz of the small drone and the blasting of Metallica’s 1991 hit song “Enter Sandman.”

“We’re in the fight. We’re in the fight to win it, and I’m never going to back down.” Hegseth’s new policies aim to cut through bureaucratic policies that limited the military’s ability to quickly purchase and field small drones with vast capabilities ranging from gathering intelligence to dropping small supplies to troops all the way to delivering lethal munitions on enemy positions. “Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions, especially when it comes to harnessing technologies we invented but were slow to pursue. Drone technology is advancing so rapidly, our major risk is risk-avoidance,” Hegseth wrote. “The department’s bureaucratic gloves are coming off.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the biggest problem I see with this initiative is that American drone manufacturers make expensive drones with less capability than China’s DJI drones. They are way ahead of U.S. manufacturers right now, but the U.S. appears to now finally acknowledge it is time to catch up.

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Korean Man
Korean Man
9 months ago

The Pentagon wants more small, cheap, easily replaced drones in the hands of troops as quickly as possible

Can’t be made in China. Can’t be Made in Vietnam either, nor Mexico. Trump Tariffs. I guess you can use Mexican labor in the US, but oops.
The next order given by Hexagon, is for every American maggot patriots to make a cheap drone for free.

Last edited 9 months ago by Korean Man
setnaffa
setnaffa
9 months ago

The biggest issue with Chinese drones is that bonus parts might be built into even commercial drones like the back door in all those cheap, commercially-available, “security” cameras. They may be very talkative about usage and location when in range of a network.

https://securityboulevard.com/2019/12/cameras-the-backdoor-of-the-security-industry/

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