Congress questions Army on drone proliferation, manufacturing dependence and counter‑UAS plans
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Summary
Members pressed Army leaders on lessons learned from Ukraine, the spread of commercial drones and steps to accelerate counter‑UAS capabilities, including training, domestic manufacturing and non‑kinetic options.
Congressional members said the war in Ukraine has accelerated the role of small unmanned systems and asked how the Army plans to counter and integrate that threat.
“Everything that moves pretty much dies on that battlefield,” a committee member said of Ukraine’s experience, framing lawmakers’ urgency to address the drone threat.
The Nut Graf: Committee members probed how the Army is changing training, procurement and industrial policy to respond to rapidly advancing unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Discussion focused on early soldier training with UAS, field experimentation, domestic supplier constraints, counter‑UAS tools such as electronic warfare and directed energy, and affordability of kinetic defeat options.
Secretary Daniel Driscoll described changes to training and field experimentation: “We are starting training on drones at the very beginning of a time a soldier joins,” he said, recounting a visit to Fort Jackson where soldiers five weeks into basic training used drones to assess concealment and review footage. The Army also described empowering units to buy small numbers of UAS to test and pass lessons up the chain.
Lawmakers pressed the Army on industrial dependence. Members cited that “90% of the components…for the drones themselves are made in China,” and asked how the service will accelerate a domestic supplier base for critical components such as brushless motors. Gen. Randy George answered that the Army is buying from an “approved list” to avoid Chinese components and said the service will send a clear demand signal to U.S. manufacturers and allies.
On counter‑UAS affordability and options, witnesses flagged the need for layered approaches. “We cannot fire $4,000,000 kinetic weaponry at $800 drones for very long,” Secretary Driscoll said, adding that affordable responses — including use of .50‑caliber fire and directed energy at scale — are part of the planning. Gen. George emphasized the need for ubiquitous sensing and both kinetic and non‑kinetic “sense, decide, act” chains to counter swarms.
The committee asked about timelines and purchasing flexibility. Witnesses urged more agile acquisition authorities and funding to buy capabilities rather than single long‑lived programs, and said field experimentation and short feedback loops with industry are central to their plan.
Ending: Members asked the Army to provide details on domestic manufacturing plans, component sourcing, counter‑UAS cost‑benefit analyses and how training and acquisition authorities will change to speed fielding of effective solutions.
Speakers quoted in this piece are from the speaker list below and are quoted verbatim from the hearing transcript.
