Pentagon Official Says US Drone Industry Still in Early, Difficult Stage

According to Lianhe Zaobao citing Reuters, Travis Metz, deputy director and chief operating officer of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), said on Monday, July 27, that US efforts to build a domestic drone industry remain at the very earliest and most difficult stage. Metz, who has led the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Program since last fall, said Ukraine is expected to produce 6 million to 7 million small first-person-view attack drones this year, or about 500,000 a month, while the Pentagon’s $1.1 billion drone program has placed cumulative orders of just under 200,000 units through February next year. He said new rules requiring military drones to be made with US parts have made it even harder to scale output, and that the revised supply-chain framework released on July 23 calls for a fully domestic supply chain for small drone systems. Metz also said sourcing semiconductors and other components is a bigger challenge, and that 19 companies competing in an upcoming drone test will be barred from using prohibited Chinese-made brushless motors or battery packs. He added that most drones bought in the early stages are likely to use Chinese-made motors. The Pentagon’s Gauntlet II drone test is set for August at Fort Carson, Colorado, and Metz said the six Ukrainian companies invited have already formed, or are preparing to form, joint ventures with US manufacturers as a condition for future orders.