How the Pentagon plans to spend $50 billion on drone warfare

[rangerrebew]

How the Pentagon plans to spend $50 billion on drone warfare
As new drone startups proliferate, Pentagon and military leaders outline their priorities for building “drone dominance."
Patrick Tucker | May 28, 2026 04:44 AM ET
SOF Week Drones Special Operations
   
CAMP ATTERBURY, Indiana—A countdown began as a gaggle of defense officials, soldiers, drone makers, and reporters watched screens in a windowless operations center. Suddenly, a LUCAS drone appeared, moving at rocket speed and showing off a new low-level capability before it crashed through a cement structure on the test range. It was a vivid demonstration of just how quickly the FLM-136 drone is evolving—and of how swiftly Pentagon leaders want to spend the $50 billion they have requested this year for drone development and production.

The path to spend that money quickly and well is paved with steps that Pentagon leaders have already taken. They have expanded the list of drones that unit commanders can easily buy, Emil Michael, defense undersecretary for research and engineering, said at the SOF Week event in Tampa last week.

“What was happening is we had this highly distributed drone sort of purchasing that all happened in small blocks, all in about the department, which has some goodness to that, because units can experiment on their own. But they had to buy from this small Blue List that never grew. Very hard for a vendor to get on that blue list,” he said.

That will enable larger purchases of existing drones, Michael’s deputy James Mazol told reporters at Camp Atterbury as he described the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group’s plans to spend the $50 billion—more than 200 times its 2026 budget and more than the GDP of many nations.

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2026/05/how-pentagon-plans-spend-50-billion-drone-warfare/413805/?oref=d1-featured-river-top

[rangerrebew]

I note it's how the Pentagon is going to spend the money, not the Army.  I wonder what the difference is?

[BobfromWB]

Not mention is the $1.1 billion single bidder drone contract that went to Eric Trump and his brother, Donald Trump Jr., are notable investors in Powerus Corporation, a drone manufacturer founded in 2025 that is merging with Aureus Greenway Holdings ... aiming to scale production of autonomous drones for the U.S. military and commercial market

Powerus is actively pursuing Pentagon contracts and selling drone interceptors to Gulf states amid ongoing conflicts with Iran, leveraging a $1.1 billion Pentagon initiative to boost domestic drone manufacturing following a ban on Chinese imports. The company, co-founded by Army Special Operations veteran Brett Velicovich, plans to produce over 10,000 drones per month and has acquired 3 rivals in the past 6 months to expand its capabilities.

Conflict of interest concerns have been raised by ethics experts and critics, given that the Trump brothers' investments coincide with their father's administration launching military strikes against Iran and increasing defense spending. While the Trump Organization dismisses these claims, with Eric Trump stating, "Drones are clearly the wave of the future," critics argue this represents potential wartime profiteering by the first family

Notably, these drones are not combat tested. 47 could have easily let the contract to a Ukrainian manufacturer of the best, most advanced, and combat tested drones, but the country's President does not wear suits - highly offensive to 47 & VP - so no contract for them.