The Army intends to buy a million drones in the next two to three years and step up its industrial capacity to keep soldiers supplied with millions more in the years to come. The ambitious shopping list comes courtesy of Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, who outlined the acquisition plan to Reuters. 

Currently, the Army purchases about 50,000 drones per year, Reuters reported, but the new order over the next three years would be 20 times that. 

Driscoll and Maj. Gen. John Reim, commander of Picatinny Arsenal, told Reuters that scaling up the acquisition would be a “big lift.” They specifically cited the ongoing war in Ukraine, where cheap drones have dominated combat over the last three years, as a major reason for the large expansion. The Army did not give a breakdown of the types of drones it plans to buy, but the service has been experimenting with everything from small quadcopters to First Person Viewer (FPV), one-way attack drones.

It’s the most concrete shift in the Army’s overhaul for the drone age. In April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a large transformation of the Army. One major part of that was building out soldiers’ use of drones and systems to counter enemy uncrewed aerial systems. Hegseth ordered every Army division to use drones in at least some capacity by the end of next year.  

The Army, as with other military branches, is trying to rapidly build out its use of drones and counter-UAS weapons in light of their rapid adoption worldwide and success in Ukraine. Troops in major training areas in Europe and inside the United States are practicing integrating small drones into their operations and dealing with the hurdles of learning new tactics. Meanwhile, some units are building their own labs so they don’t have to worry about waiting on logistical support.

While the U.S. military works to build out its supply chains, it is also testing troops on how quickly they’re adopting drones into operations. The military held its first “drone crucible” this fall, pitting teams of special operations and conventional forces from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force against each other in a variety of scenarios. Each competition was based on a real-world combat situation, such as night operations, striking a moving convoy and close quarters combat. No team won outright. 

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