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The Pentagon is seeking about $55 billion for drones and private military systems in the fiscal year 2027 budget, as battlefield conflicts from the Middle East to Ukraine expose a growing problem: cheap drones are increasingly able to bypass expensive US defenses.
The funding request, a dramatic increase from about $225 million a year ago, reflects a major shift in the way the US military plans to fight future wars, accelerating the move to large amounts of low-cost, AI-powered systems.
The grant, tied to a little-known Pentagon office known as the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, represents a broader division that includes multiple programs across the services — including procurement, research, training and sustainment — rather than a single autonomous weapons program.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to face questions about the budget when he testifies before Congress on Thursday, as lawmakers begin weighing what could be the Pentagon’s largest request in modern history. The administration is seeking nearly $1.5 trillion in national defense spending in fiscal year 2027 — an increase of more than 40% from the previous year and the largest one-year jump in decades — with major investments in drones, missile defense and next-generation warfare systems at the center of the request.
At the heart of the revolution is a change in doctrine: from an army built around a small number of expensive platforms to one designed to deploy large numbers of cheap systems capable of working in integrated groups, often called drone swarms.
In recent conflicts in the Middle East, Iranian drone and missile attacks have forced the US and allied defense organizations to respond to waves of low-cost aircraft threats, revealing what defense officials describe as a growing “statistics problem” – shooting down expensive interceptors with much cheaper drones.
In one recent engagement, Gulf air defenses tracked dozens of incoming drones alongside missiles, intercepting many but underscoring how a combined attack can overwhelm even advanced systems.
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The same played out in Ukraine, where Russia has used Iranian-designed drones in large numbers to suppress air defenses, forcing the defense to use up valuable resources to stop the cost-effective systems.
Those battlefield lessons are now shaping Pentagon planning, driving forward plans designed not just to protect drone swarms, but to deploy them at scale.
Unlike traditional unmanned systems that operate individually, the Pentagon’s new approach emphasizes networks of drones designed to work together, share data and coordinate movements in real time. In theory, such mobs could overwhelm defenses by attacking from multiple locations simultaneously, forcing enemies to track and react to dozens – or even hundreds – of targets simultaneously.
The Pentagon’s moves are already going beyond testing, with plans aimed at fielding integrated drone teams in the near term and allowing a single operator to direct multiple systems at once.
Although the concept has been tested in limited cases, full autonomy at scale is still a technical challenge, especially in competitive environments where communication can be disrupted.
The funding supports a variety of systems in the air, on land and at sea, from small, manoeuvrable aerial drones to autonomous surface ships and ground-based platforms, as well as the software and communications networks needed to connect them.
Officials are increasingly emphasizing rapid production and low-cost designs, aimed at installing large numbers of systems quickly rather than relying on a small fleet of expensive platforms. Much of that effort is expected to draw on commercial technology as the Pentagon seeks to accelerate development times.
The change reflects a broader shift in warfare, where industrial power and the ability to quickly produce large numbers of systems are as important as technological superiority.
Military planners have also warned that adversaries are investing heavily in similar capabilities.
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China has demonstrated a large drone operation involving hundreds of coordinated systems, highlighting the pace of global competition in private warfare and raising concerns about how those capabilities could be used in future conflicts.
On the battlefield, enemies continue to adapt. Russian forces have begun testing large drones “carriers” capable of launching small attack drones mid-flight, increasing range and heavy air defense, while Iran has developed the use of mass-produced drones to overcome its defenses through continuous attacks.
A soldier holds a drone in the Pentagon parking lot in Arlington, Virginia, on June 14, 2025, during the 250th anniversary of the U.S. military. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
At the same time, the Pentagon and its allies are racing to develop countermeasures designed to match that scale.
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Layered defenses now include a combination of traditional interceptors, electronic warfare tools and emerging systems such as interceptor drones, aimed at addressing the cost imbalances revealed by recent conflicts. The goal is to build defenses that can absorb large waves of incoming threats without relying on expensive ballistic missiles.
Despite the scale of the investment, questions remain about how quickly the Pentagon can bring these capabilities to scale. Previous efforts to speed up drone production have faced delays, and integrating large numbers of autonomous systems into existing military structures presents technical and operational challenges.
