Why is the US military focusing on having low-cost, disposable drones in its inventory?
A Marine pilots a drone target. (Photo: USMC)
Diverse acquisition and development efforts across the US Department of Defence (DoD) have been focusing on the benefits cheap uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer.
Aware of the tactical and operational advantages cheap, disposable UAVs can provide, the Pentagon and its services and agencies have been conducting multiple programmes to acquire, develop and improve this type of capability.
Also known as loitering munition, suicide, kamikaze, exploding and one-way attack drones, those systems offer faster response, precise targeting and lower collateral damage. Moreover, it enables destroying multi-million dollar enemy assets at a lower cost.
The focus on cheap drones represents a shift in the US military’s posture as the DoD has traditionally relied on expensive, high-technology UAVs. Its approach has changed due to lessons learned from recent conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
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In the Palestine war, Hamas has effectively used commercially available, low-cost Chinese and Iranian drones in attack missions exposing vulnerabilities in Israel's advanced and expensive air defence architecture.
Meanwhile, militants of the non-state military group Houthi have been operating cheap Iranian UAVs to attack military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Its inventory includes Iran's Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company Qasef-1.
“What are we learning in Israel, in the Red Sea, is we should not use a US$1 million Patriot round against a $2,000 drone with a Chinese motorcycle engine, 40kg of explosives, fibreglass and tape,” a high-ranking US Army official told Shephard.
Marianna Fakhurdinova, a fellow with the Washington-headquartered think tank Center for European Policy Analysis stressed that, after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, “Ukraine has become like a testing ground for Western weapons”.
“We know that the Ukrainian military has often been providing feedback to European [and] American companies on how effective their weapons are and is ready to share the lessons learned on the use of some weapons,” Fakhurdinova added.
A report issued by the US Congressional Research Service in September 2024 highlighted that disposable UAVs have been playing “a critical role” in this conflict and leading Kyiv towards procuring several systems from its international partners, including the US.
According to the paper, Washington also provided Ukraine with multiple “expendable armed drones that are designed to explode upon impact with a target, like the Aevex Aerospace Phoenix Ghost family of systems and the AeroVironment Switchblade 300 and 600”.
“They are replacing artillery with drones in Ukraine. In protracted conflicts, if you do not have two thousand, two million drones in your pipeline, you are messing up,” the army’s official added.
US low-cost drones’ acquisition and R&D initiatives
The US Marine Corps (USMC) has been working on the Organic Precision Fires-Light (OPF-L) programme to procure loitering munitions. In April, the branch awarded $249 million in Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) agreements to AeroVironment, Anduril and Teledyne FLIR.
The goal of OPF-L is equipping, by the end of 2026, rifle squads and platoons of two battalions with individually operated, man-portable loitering munition capable of engaging beyond-line-of-sight targets.
The Defence Innovation Unit (DIU) Artemis project, in turn, is intended to provide the US military with ground-launched, affordable one-way UAS that operate at ranges from 50-300km, navigate at low altitudes, carry a variety of payloads and are rapidly updatable and upgradable.
Under this initiative, in March, the DIU selected AeroVironment, Auterion, Dragoon and Swan to operationally evaluate long-range, one-way platforms in electronic warfare (EW) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) denied environments.
Meanwhile, the Army Modernisation Strategy stated that drone munitions are “revolutionising modern warfare” and represent “a growing priority” for the branch.
“Modernisation of munitions for drones is a must, particularly the development of drone-dropped and loitering munitions, which are likely to be key elements of future warfare,” it was noted in the document.
The US Army official claimed that instead of “exquisite systems”, the service needs “a lot of small, expendable” UAVs. “I do not need a $6 million drone. I need six million $1 drones. Think of drones as the new ammunition. How many can I put in my rucksack? And how often do I have to go back and get more?”
This type of capability has also been procured under the Replicator programme. Announced in August 2023, this effort is intended to enable the US to better compete against Chinese capabilities.
Some of its goals include leveraging existing spending to galvanize the industry to produce a mass of low-cost, long-range strike but effective UAVs.
Although the DoD has not disclosed details of details of the Replicator procurement strategy, in May 2024 it announced that the AeroVironment Switchblade 600 was the first drone acquired through the initiative.
Under the second tranche of the programme, in November 2024, the Pentagon procured the Performance Drone Works (PDW) C-100 and the Anduril Altius-600M loitering munition.
Surge in the production of disposable drones in the US
The growing demand for this type of system has been leading US suppliers towards increasing manufacturing capacities.
In 2024, Aevex Aerospace announced a multi-million-dollar investment to expand and ramp up production at its site in Tampa, Florida.
According to the company, its facility can produce approximately 450 aircraft per month on 1.5 shifts, with the potential to increase to a maximum rate of up to 1,000 aircraft per month on three shifts.
Also last year, AeroVironment disclosed its plans to either double or triple the production of Switchblades.
“The innovation is taking place on the battlefield. So, you have to shorten your production line because of the volume needed in the front line”, the Army’s official remarked.
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