Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to embark on the largest unmanned systems buildup in U.S. history — an effort that could deliver more than 300,000 small drones over the next several years.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth highlights the United States' "Drone Dominance" push to equip the military with a massive quantity of drones.

The Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones are intended to mirror Iran 's Shahed-136 uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), providing a low-cost, scalable capability for autonomous, swarm-style operations.

The War Department requested information earlier this week to gauge industry's willingness and ability to make some 300,000 drones

U.S. Special Operations Command will use 500 confiscated Chinese drones for target practice in a Military Drone Crucible training exercise in Florida.

It's a new era of drone warfare. Defense giants like Lockheed Martin and Boeing are under pressure as Silicon Valley upstarts make cheap, fast models.

Since early September 2025, American armed forces have conducted a lethal air campaign against suspected narcotics-trafficking vessels in Caribbean and Pacific waters, killing approximately 83 people across 21 strikes as of mid-November.

The training showed integrating new systems such as drones is not easy. Commanders are betting the often-frustrating lessons will pay off on the battlefield.