Pentagon races to scale cheap drones as US falls far behind China, Russia

American drone makers are racing to build cheap, expendable quadcopters at a scale the Pentagon has never asked for before, and by the Pentagon's own admission, the country is starting from almost nothing.

Snapshot

According to Bloomberg News, reporting from companies like Vector Defense Inc. in Bluffdale, Utah, the Pentagon's $1.1 billion Drone Dominance program aims to buy roughly 250,000 drones by the end of 2027. But Russia is expected to produce 7.3 million small drones this year and China can reportedly surge to 500,000 a month, leaving U.S. manufacturers far behind on volume even as private investment pours in.

Key points

• Volume gap: Travis Metz, acting director of the Defense Innovation Unit, said the U.S. has entrepreneurial drone companies but "none of them have any scale."
• Supply chain squeeze: China dominates key components like batteries, motors and propellers, forcing U.S. makers to pay a premium for compliant parts, Teal Drones' Chris Ericson said.
• Money is flowing: More than $60 billion in private capital went into over 220 U.S. drone companies from early 2025 through September, per the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International.
• Mixed results so far: Of 11 companies awarded contracts in the program's first phase, only three had delivered full orders by mid-September.
• Urgency warnings: Retired Marine aviator Trent Emeneker said that in a major war, "we need to make a million a month," and "we need to do it yesterday."

Quick take

This is a production and policy story as much as a hardware story. The report, via Bloomberg News, shows a Pentagon trying to break old acquisition habits while betting that tariffs, loans and marketplace reforms can close a gap measured in millions of units. Whether that bet pays off likely depends on funding surviving the next Congress and the supply chain actually catching up.

Read the full story: military.com