Hegseth orders Pentagon to fast-track drones to outpace Russia, China

First on Fox: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued new orders for fast-track drone production and deployment, requiring the commanders to purchase and test independently and drone combat simulation in every branch of the army.

Hegseth wrote that as part of an aggressive push to beat Russia and China in the unmanned war, “the bureaucracy of the department is closing.” “Lowse will not be interrupted by self-stunned restrictions … our major risk is risk-property.”

In a pair of memo received by Fox News Digital for the first time, Hegseth canceled heritage policies, which they consider to be banned innovation. For the first time, commanders with a colonel or captain rank can freely procure and test drones, including 3D-protted prototypes and commercial-off-the-shelf systems, as long as they meet national security criteria.

They can work immediately with drones, bypassing the hurdles of traditional approval, and are authorized to test non-fatal autonomous UASs in controlled environment.

The incident of drone at American bases comes under a thorough investigation as devices prove to be incompetent abroad.

“Small UAS are more than high-end airplanes,” stated in a directive. “They should be cheap, rapidly changed, and classified as consumables.”

The memo re -defines small drones (group 1 and 2) as consumable materials – not durable military property – removing them from the heritage tracking system and simplifying the acquisition.

Till date, Hegseth said, Defense Department has failed to field “UAS [unmanned aircraft system] On scale and speed. ,

“Small UAS are important forces that should be given priority at the same level as major arms systems.”

Commanders are instructed to work with FAA to “remove improper range restrictions, expand fast-track and spectrum approval, and install a variety of UAS training areas including live fire, combined weapons and flock testing.”

Training boundaries will be expanded, in which three new UAS national test sites will be mandatory within 90 days.

Weapons, a glimpous point for a long time, will also move rapidly: arms boards should now respond to drone arming requests within 30 days, and should be processed within a week.

While the US opponents have a “head start” in the world of small UAS, Hegseth hoped that the US would establish domain dominance by the end of 2027.

Hegseth said, “Next year I hope to integrate this capacity in all relevant fighter training, including the force-on-force drone war,” Hegsetha said, “Hegsetha said,” The investment methods mentioned in the executive order of Tram’s unlike American drone dominance are being investigated. ”

The Pentagon will now manufacture a “dynamic, AI-searching blue list”, which will approve a digital platform cataloging drone components, vendors and performance ratings. By 2026, the system will be run by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and fuel will be fuel by data of AI Retaining Pipelines at night.

Trump indicated new executive orders to make flying cars a reality, slash flight time

To jump the drone industry, the Pentagon will pursue advance purchases, direct loans and other capital incentives within 30 days. One memo said that major shopping would “favor American companies.”

This step comes at a time when modern drone war has been proved on the ground. In Ukraine And in the Middle East.

Since Russia began his full -scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the drone has redefined the modern war. Both Ukrainian and Russian armies have used unmanned air systems (UAS) to reopen the strategy on the battlefield and gather real -time intelligence. The basic monitoring and artillery targeting was launched, which has developed in a deadly deployment of the rapidly so-called “Kamikes Drone”-Munishan designed before the lines of the mushrooms made a munishan designed before the lines.

The most vigorous and controversial of these has been supplied to the Shahd -136 of Iran, a low cost, GPS -star drone to Russian forces. Flew in large structures, Shaheds play an important role in Ukrainian energy infrastructure and attacks on residential areas, often bypassing expensive missile systems at a fraction of cost. In response, Ukraine has modified commercial drones to give explosive payloads against Russian trenches, vehicles and naval goals in the Black Sea.

Click here to get Fox News app

Earlier this month, Israel rely heavily on the drone strike during Operation Rising Lion, coordinating with manned air -air missions to target high -level Iranian military officers and nuclear infrastructure. Iran retaliated with its barrage of drone.

Rapid adoption of drones has led to major changes in theory, promoted the development of electronic counselors and argued whether the drones are ready to overtake the manned aircraft as a major force in the future air war.