Army secretary: the soldiers improvised with credit cards while the drone war upsets the battlefield

EXCLUSIVE: Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, said that American soldiers improvised with government credit cards to buy and test battlefield equipment while adapting to the threat of explosive drones-while the army moves its long-term posture towards China in Indo-Pacific.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Driscoll described how elite units such as the 75th Ranger Regiment bypassing the heavy supply system of the Pentagon to test new drones, sensors and weapons in real time. At the same time, he said that the army aligns with the evaluation of the Pentagon of China as a “threat of rhythm” of the country, strengthening an optimized force for Indo-Pacific but always capable of deploying in the whole world at any time.

After a visit with the Hunter Army aerodrome regiment in Savannah, Georgia on Tuesday, Driscoll said that the Rangers “simply use their business credit card to go online and buy things to test, and they will find what works.”

“They will do a lot of this outside the traditional supply process. This flexibility allows them to innovate and test at a speed that is really difficult to do in conventional strength,” he added.

“ Radiates to be here ”: the secretary of the army says that the troops of guard wishing to combat the crime of DC

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll turns the hunting army aerodrome in Savannah, GA. (SPC. Luke Sullivan / 75th Ranger Regiment)

Driscoll described the 75th Ranger Regiment as “Live Gi Joe Dolls”. By watching them train in close combat, he said, you can’t help but notice their size and physique and their physique as they get stuck through the doors during the room cleaning exercises. This raw power, he added, recalls why the United States invests so strongly in the maintenance of elite infantry forces.

But even the first American ground fighters are forced to rethink their operation. Driscoll said that the age of sliding silently on a goal under the night of the night – a quick cuff of a black hawk, overlapping doors and overwhelming defenders – disappear.

The propagation of cheap battlefield technology, from drone to acoustic sensors to munitions of blur, made furtive insertions much more difficult. “We do not really have the night as we did before,” he said, noting that night vision equipment and detection tools that were formerly expensive and rare are now accessible to large-scale opponents.

This change, he argued, transformed special operators into improvisers. Rangers and other elite units are now experimenting with disposable drones, commercial quadcopters and tailor -made weapons to stay in advance.

Unlike the conventional forces linked by long acquisition cycles, these units have the flexibility of innovating quickly.

The idea is that the rangers test quickly, see what works, then transmits these lessons to the rest of the army.

The problem, he recognized, is what comes next. While small unit experimentation is prosperous, the scaling of these solutions through the wider force extends headlong in bureaucratic administrative formalities.

Hegseth tears administrative formalities, orders the Pentagon to start drone thrust on Trump command

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll meets the Rangers at Hunter aerodrome. (SPC. Luke Sullivan / 75th Ranger Regiment)

Driscoll stressed that the Congress gave the army a dozen main funding categories in which it could move money between – say, vehicles in one bucket, drones in another. Today, he said, there are more than 1,400 “buckets” drawn, some linked to specific brands and models, which makes it almost impossible to pivot quickly. This rigidity may not matter for tanks or trucks, but with drone technology evolving every few weeks in Ukraine, he said, the army is likely to late.

Driscoll visited the aerodrome just a few weeks after a shooting on the basis of Fort Stewart, where Hunter is located. He met students from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), who currently leads the probe on the shooting. Five soldiers were injured after a sergeant opened fire with a personal handgun that he brought on the base.

Although he praises the “speed and professionalism” of the CID with the investigation, Driscoll added: “The army does not want these incidents, and we therefore examine everything we can to try to make sure that this will never happen again.”

Driscoll spoke with Fox News Digital before a review of the world’s force posture expected for the end of the summer or the beginning of fall. This review can lead to significant changes in the number of troops deployed in bases across Europe, the Middle East or Indo-Pacific.

Driscoll said that the army aligns with the evaluation of the Pentagon of China as a “threat of rhythm” of the country.

He stressed that the service designs its strength to be effective in Indo -Pacific – in particular by providing logistics, maintaining maintenance and long -term presence necessary to dissuade or fight a counterpart.

At the same time, Driscoll warned against the too narrow concentration on a theater. “Human history has been quite difficult to predict where the next conflict could take place,” he said, stressing that the army must remain able to deploy the president and the defense secretary directly. This flexibility, he argued, is a decisive characteristic of earthly energy.

Dry army. Dan Driscoll observes the Ranger training at Hunter Army aerodrome. (SPC. Luke Sullivan / 75th Ranger Regiment)

Driscoll refused to describe his complete recommendations for the next review, but clearly indicated a priority: the counter-ground measures. “With the support of the Secretary of Defense, we put in place plans to make a fairly aggressive investment in the way of countering the threat of drones around the world and here at home,” he told Fox News Digital.

In his mandate, Driscoll launched the army transformation initiative, a modernization campaign from top to bottom, according to him, is essential for the army to remain decisive against peer opponents like China.

Click here to obtain the Fox News app

“If you look at what the army looked like in the late 1990s, because it entered the counterinsurgency operations in the early 2000s, we really did not change much,” he said.

Now, “the army works as quickly as possible to try to reinvent itself, to be ready for modern war.”