Taking steps toward drone dominance

We’ve covered the U.S. focus on achieving drone dominance extensively ever since President Trump’s executive order in July 2025. The Department of War (DOW) selected 25 vendors to help achieve their goal of getting 300,000 drones into warfighters’ hands by 2027.

The vendors began their gauntlet of testing in February at Fort Benning in Georgia as they taught military personnel how to use those prototypes, then military operators completed various mission scenarios, including an evaluation on their ability to find, lock on, and destroy a target. The DOW will select up to 12 vendors to produce their drones at scale, a total of 30,000 units, at an average price of $5,000 for each, and deliver by July.

There will be additional gauntlets as the DOW will whittle down the total vendors from 12 to five, the number of drones ordered will increase from 30,000 to 150,000, and the price per drone will drop from $5,000 to just $2,300. In total $1.1 billion has been set up to fund the Drone Dominance Program.

The time and money are being put toward achieving the DOW’s goal, but will the technology and domestic supply chain be able to keep up? I believe more will have to be done as far as education and infrastructure before the United States can fully achieve “drone dominance.” There needs to be an increased focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in every stage of education to spark students’ interest in a new form of manufacturing. Companies also must continue to invest in new technologies and facilities to manufacture and assemble drones if that 300,000-drone goal is going to be met. As we’ve said in past Defense and Munitions issues, the U.S. is focusing on drones to keep their own warfighters out of harm’s way so not only are time, money, careers, and companies at stake, so are lives.