Army ‘on a path’ to meeting Hegseth’s ambitious drone goals
DefenseScoop interviewed Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Brent Ingraham on the sidelines of the AUSA conference.
By
Jon Harper
October 16, 2025
The Army is looking to buy drones “Amazon-style” and juice its organic industrial base to meet leadership directives for growing the U.S. military’s unmanned aerial systems arsenal, the service’s acquisition chief told DefenseScoop.
In July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo on “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance,” which called for approving “hundreds” of American products for purchase by the DOD and arming combat units with a variety of “low-cost drones made by America’s world-leading engineers and AI experts,” among other steps.
Equipping soldiers across the force with UAS is also a top priority for Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, who have launched a continuous transformation initiative and are expanding the Transforming in Contact modernization concept, which includes testing new UAS, counter-UAS, and electronic warfare tools.
During a fiery speech at the AUSA conference earlier this week, Driscoll said drones will define 21st-century warfare and the Army “cannot bleep wait to innovate until Americans are dying on the battlefield.”
https://defensescoop.com/2025/10/16/army-drone-acquistion-small-uas-brent-ingraham-hegseth-ausa/
