Hegseth orders the Pentagon to speed up drones to overcome Russia, in China,

First of all on the fox: The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has issued new orders to accelerate the production and deployment of drones, allowing commanders to provide them and test them independently and require drone combat simulations in all branches of the army.

As part of an aggressive push to overcome Russia and China in an unmanned war, “the bureaucratic gloves of the department stand out,” wrote HegSeth. “Lettality will not be hampered by self-imposed restrictions … Our main risk is risk avoidance.”

In a pair of service notes obtained for the first time by Fox News Digital, Hegseth canceled the inherited policies which he believes limited. For the first time, commanders with the rank of colonel or captain can get and independently testing drones, including 3D printed prototypes and alley trade systems as long as they meet the national security criteria.

They can also operate and train with drones immediately, bypassing the bottlenecks of traditional approval, and are even authorized to test non -lethal autonomous AUs in controlled environments.

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A pair of new orders aims to accelerate the production and integration of drones in all service branches. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“Little UAS resembles more than high -end ammunition,” said an instruction. “They should be inexpensive, quickly replaceable and classified as consumables.”

Memos redefine small drones (groups 1 and 2) as consumables – not sustainable military assets – eliminating them from inherited monitoring systems and simplifying acquisition.

To date, Hegseth said, the Ministry of Defense has “failed to align the UAS (unmanned aircraft system) on a large scale and at speed”.

“Small UAS are so critical strength catalysts that they must have priority at the same level as the main weapons systems.”

Commanders are invited to work with the FAA to “remove inappropriate beach restrictions, accelerate and extend the spectrum approval, and establish a variety of UAS training areas that include live fire, combined weapons and test tests”.

“The bureaucratic gloves of the department stand out,” wrote Hegseth in the memos. (Getty Images)

The training ranges will be extended, with three new UAS national test sites mandated within 90 days.

Armament, for a long time, a bonding point, will also move more quickly: arms commissions must now meet the armaments of drones within 30 days and battery certifications must be treated in a week.

While American opponents have a “head-on” in the world of small UAS, Hegseth expects the United States to establish domination of the domain by the end of 2027.

“Next year, I expect to see this capacity integrated into all relevant combat formation, including wars of strength of force of force,” said HegSeth, adding that the investment methods described in the American executive order of Trump’s American dominance are investigated.

The Pentagon will now create a “dynamic and connected AI” blue list “, a digital cataloging platform components of approved drones, suppliers and performance notes. By 2026, this system will be managed by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and powered by the data from the recycling pipelines of the night AI.

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Caporals Nathan Baptiste, on the left, and Jacob Bennett attach a camera to an observation UAV during the tactical training of the capacities of offensive and defensive drones at the Camp Pendleton on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Jeff Gritchen / Medianews Group / Orange County Register via Getty Images)

To relaunch the drone industry, the Pentagon will continue the purchase commitments in advance, direct loans and other capital incentives within 30 days. Major purchases “will be favorable to American companies,” said a memo.

This decision arrives at a time when the deadly capacities of the war of modern drones were proven on the ground In Ukraine and in the Middle East.

Since Russia launched its large -scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, drones redefined modern war. The Ukrainian and Russian forces have used unmanned air systems (UAS) to reshape tactics on the battlefield and collect information in real time. This started as a targeting of basic surveillance and artillery quickly evolved into fatal deployments of “suicide bomber drones” – flash the ammunition designed to hover before focusing on deep targets behind enemy lines.

Among the most prolific and controversial, there is the Shahed-136 of Iran, a low-cost drone and GPS provided to Russian forces. Fired in large training courses, the Shaheds have played a decisive role in attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and residential areas, often bypassing costly missile systems to a fraction of the cost. In response, Ukraine has changed commercial drones to deliver useful explosive loads against Russian trenches, vehicles and naval targets in the Black Sea.

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Earlier this month, Israel has relied heavily on drone strikes during Operation Rising Lion, coordinating them with inhabited air missions to target high-level Iranian military officials and nuclear infrastructure. Iran retaliated with its own drone dam.

The rapid adoption of drones has triggered major changes in doctrine, stimulated the development of electronic countermeasures and ignited the debate on the question of whether drones are ready to go beyond inhabited planes as the dominant force in the future air combat.