The US lags significantly behind Ukraine in drone production, but wants to catch up

This was stated by Travis Metz, Chief Operating Officer of the Pentagon’s Defence Innovation Unit, who currently heads the Drone Dominant programme, according to Reuters.

He said that this year, Ukraine will produce 6–7 million small FPV drones — approximately 500,000 per month. By way of comparison, under the US $1.1 billion Drone Dominance programme, the Pentagon will have ordered a total of fewer than 200,000 drones by February.

Metz acknowledged that the US is currently going through the most difficult phase — establishing its own manufacturing capacity. He said that once this is achieved, it will be much easier to ramp up production.

However, this will be more difficult to achieve due to new requirements from the Pentagon. From now on, military drones must be manufactured using only American components. The updated rules stipulate that the ultimate goal is a fully domestic supply chain, free from reliance on foreign parts.

Companies have been banned from using Chinese components, in particular brushless motors and batteries. Metz acknowledged that finding alternatives to such components is one of the biggest challenges, as most of the drones procured in the first phase of the programme likely contained Chinese motors.

The Pentagon is confident that, in time, the US will be able to catch up with Ukraine and become one of the world’s leading manufacturers of drones.

“I see no reason why we shouldn’t […] become world leaders in this field as well,” said Metz.

He also revealed that six Ukrainian drone manufacturers have been invited to take part in the Gauntlet II trials, which will take place next month in the state of Colorado.

A condition for securing future US contracts is the localisation of production in the US through joint ventures with American companies. In this way, Washington aims to utilise Ukraine’s combat experience to develop its own defence industry.

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