In response to United States President Donald Trump’s June executive order in support of the American drone industry, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that he has rescinded all restrictions on US drone production in a memorandum to the Pentagon published late on Thursday local time.
"While our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones,” he stated in a video accompaniment to the memo, global production of military-use drones has skyrocketed in the past three years. For that, the US must keep up with and surpass its adversaries’ capabilities.
Hegseth's three goals for US-based drone production
Hegseth has set three goals to accomplish with his announcement.
By approving military purchases of necessary American-made products, he aims to bolster the new, emerging US drone manufacturing base.
Second, rapidly developing US warfare capabilities to the highest level of quality and standard in order to arm combat units with low-cost drones manufactured by lead engineers and AI experts.
Lastly, Hegseth said he is committed to training US troops in the same way they’ll be expected to fight. He is planning to ensure that relevant drone training, including simulating modern “force-on-force” drone warfare, is implemented into all relevant combat training.
Like any new technology, the primary issue in rescinding these restrictions and implementing new training regimens is funding. Hegseth’s memo addressed this matter, stating that the investment methods Trump outlined in his executive order are being investigated.
Reaffirming the US’ commitment to taking a more active stance when it comes to the matter of defense, the memo concluded, “the department's bureaucratic gloves are coming off.”