Hegseth signs flying memo to expand military use of cheap drones in oddball video

An announcement so weird it could only come from the Trump administration

video Flanked by a pair of buzzing drones that threatened to drown out his voice, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reached up to grab a memorandum hung from a third drone hovering above his head. 

Hegseth stumbled his way through the moment, breaking off mid-sentence when he did that. But by signing the document [PDF] - which contained no formal signature field, mind you - the SecDef ushered in a new era of "US military drone dominance," according to his post on X with accompanying video, including music from Metallica that was surely licensed.

Look at the one-page brief Hegseth signed, and you won't get much beyond the three points he discusses in the video, namely that the DoD wants to "bolster the nascent US drone manufacturing base" by approving new US-made products for military usage, arm military combat units "with a variety of low-cost drones," and plans to incorporate drones into training, "including force-on-force drone wars." There's more to the memo, but it was closed off from public sight, and the DoD didn't respond to our request for a full look.

Youtube Video

The US military's usual drones are known to be a bit more heavy-duty than, say, an off-the-shelf quadcopter, but the memo suggests Hegseth wants to acquire just that type of low-cost and lightweight flyer. 

"Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, accounting for most of this year's casualties in Ukraine," Hegseth wrote in the drone-delivered one-pager. "Our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year." Those cheap drones - laden with explosives and an FPV camera - have done remarkable damage in Ukraine, becoming the new face of warfare and a likely game changer in future conflicts. None of that required an MQ-9A Reaper drone - just some DJI and a dream not to die rushing enemy fortifications. 

The full memo, which some other defense-related publications have seen, had a bit more info.

DefenseScoop reports the memo calls for military branches to come up with a list of programs that would be cheaper or more lethal if done with drones, find some spare DoD land to use as a trio of drone training ranges, and see that every squad is equipped with cheap, expendable UAVs by the end of next year.

In addition, Hegseth reportedly loosened restrictions on where a government purchase card can be used to buy drones, and rescinded an order prohibiting the acquisition of drones manufactured by certain foreign countries.

Hegseth noted he was seeking to "go above and beyond" President Trump's June executive order on integrating drones into various government programs with the new drone demands. 

One of the matters for Hegseth's department in Trump's June EO was to update regularly the Defense Innovation Unit's Blue Unmanned Aerial Systems list, which serves as a record of which commercial drones are cleared for military usability. It's likely the promise to approve more drones for military usage will involve adding new entries to the Blue list, in other words. 

The DoD declined to comment on the matter, including as to whether that use of Enter Sandman was approved by Metallica. ®