Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Pentagon Defense Innovation Unit, Trevis Metz, who will lead the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Dominance Program starting in the fall of 2025, stated that Ukraine will produce between 6 and 7 million small strike FPV drones in 2026 – about 500 thousand per month.
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“By comparison – under the Pentagon program funded with 1.1 billion USD, fewer than 200 thousand drones will be ordered in total by February 2027,” the agency writes.
According to T. Metz, “it is much more difficult to go from zero to 200 thousand” than to then increase production further – once the country already has the capacity to produce much more internally.
However, as Reuters notes, the Pentagon itself created a serious obstacle to drone production growth by introducing a rule that military drones must be manufactured using American parts.
“The revised supply chain concept published on July 23 added the wording that the ultimate government goal is a fully domestic supply chain for small unmanned aerial vehicles,” the agency writes.
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Additionally, T. Metz acknowledged that some drone components, including semiconductors, are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain – a much more serious problem for the US military that is not limited to the drone program alone.
“None of the drones from the 19 companies participating in the tests in August 2026 have prohibited components – for example, Chinese-made motors or batteries,” said the Pentagon representative, describing this as a “tightening of standards after the first phase of the program.”
Despite this, T. Metz is confident that the US will eventually be able to compete with Ukraine’s drone industry. “I see no reason why we shouldn’t become global leaders in this field as well,” he said.
The Pentagon representative also reported that all six Ukrainian companies invited to the “Gauntlet II” tests (to be held in August 2026 at Fort Carson, Colorado) have already created or are creating US joint ventures with local manufacturers – fulfilling the requirement to secure future drone production contracts.
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