The Army is refocusing its efforts on mass-producing cheap drones and counter-drone technology as unmanned aerial systems become a major weapon in war.

The Department of Defense as a whole has intensely followed Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as other current conflicts, for lessons from the battlefield. One of those ideas has been the overwhelming use of drones, often packed with explosives, to target much larger and expensive pieces of weaponry.

Recommended Stories

• Houthi 'capitulation' against US doesn't end Israel conflict
• Second US fighter jet falls into ocean in the last month
• As guns fall silent in Yemen, so does the Pentagon 

A Ukrainian leader said earlier this year that drones have accounted for about 70% of all Russian and Ukrainian casualties.

Looking at both sides of drone usage, the Army is trying to produce and introduce drones to its units rapidly while also focusing on ensuring the other expensive systems it’s pursuing will not be susceptible to adversaries’ drone attacks in the event of a conflict.

“Drones are going to be in every formation that we do. We’re going to have autonomous systems everywhere, in every formation, whether it’s to protect, detect, or attack, those things are going to be in every formation, a logistics formation, and an artillery battery,” Gen. Randy George, chief of staff of the Army, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday.

He appeared in front of the subcommittee alongside Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.

The U.S. military’s campaign against the Yemen-based Houthis has demonstrated its need to build counter-drone technology that’s much cheaper than the missiles and systems that it has been using, which cost millions.

The Standard Missile-2, a medium-range air defense weapon that the Navy is believed to be utilizing to intercept Houthi one-way attack drones, costs slightly more than $2 million. In contrast, the Houthi one-way attack drones cost thousands of dollars, according to Politico.

The Houthis have shot down seven U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones worth more than $200 million in total during the conflict, the Associated Press reported in late April.

“We are an incredibly wealthy nation, but even we cannot fire $4 million kinetic weaponry at $800 drones for very long,” Driscoll said. “We need to be able to take down some drones with 50 [caliber] rounds because a 50 cal is pretty cheap. We need to be able to use directed energy at scale.”

In line with this change, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed a “comprehensive transformation” of the Army last week.

The Army secretary told lawmakers that crewed aircraft will still play a role in the service for decades, even if they divest from such systems.

HOUTHI ‘CAPITULATION’ AGAINST US DOESN’T END ISRAEL CONFLICT

“One of the things that we have seen from looking at modern combat in Ukraine and around the world is manned aviation serves a purpose, and it will likely continue to serve a purpose for decades to come. But, in the world of very cheap swarmable drones, it cannot be the only thing we invest in,” Driscoll added. “We need to overinvest in [drones] and underinvest in manned systems going forward.”

Three U.S. service members were killed by a drone attack on Tower 22, a small U.S. outpost in Jordan, in January 2024, as the war in the Middle East was in its early stages.