On July 27, Travis Metz, deputy director of the Pentagon unit responsible for building the US drone industry, admitted that American FPV drone production is falling far short of Ukrainian output. In an interview, he stated that the US is at the “earliest and hardest” stage of forming its own drone industry.
According to his estimate, Ukraine will produce between six and seven million small strike FPV drones this year — approximately 500,000 per month. By comparison, under the Pentagon’s $1.1 billion program, just under 200,000 drones will be ordered by February.
“It is much harder to go from zero to 200,000” than to scale further once a domestic production base has already been established, Metz noted.
At the same time, the Pentagon has tightened requirements for suppliers. The goal is to create a fully domestic supply chain for small unmanned aerial systems. None of the drones may contain prohibited components — in particular, brushless motors and battery packs of Chinese manufacture.
The biggest challenge for American industry overall, according to the official, remains harder-to-source components — semiconductors above all. Despite the difficulties, Metz expressed confidence in the long-term outlook:
I see no reason why we cannot… become world champions in this as well.
The central element of the Pentagon’s strategy is drawing in Ukrainian companies with combat experience to localize production directly in the United States. According to Metz, all six Ukrainian companies invited to the August Gauntlet II test at Fort Carson military base in Colorado have either already concluded or are in the process of concluding joint ventures with American manufacturers. Among them:
- F-Drones — Ukrainian Defense Drones (Ohio). Ukrainian company F-Drones, the first manufacturer the Ukrainian government permitted to export military drone systems to the US, is developing production through its American subsidiary Ukrainian Defense Drones (UDD). The facility is opening in the village of Holland, Lucas County, near Toledo.
- General Cherry — Wilcox Industries (New Hampshire). One of Ukraine’s largest UAV manufacturers, the company General Chereshnya, has agreed on a joint venture with Wilcox Industries — a tactical equipment manufacturer from Newington that has been in operation since 1982. Production will be set up at Wilcox’s manufacturing facilities. The agreement is currently in the process of being finalized.
The August Gauntlet II event — the final stage of the second phase of the Drone Dominance Program — will take place at Fort Carson with the participation of 19 companies, each of which must deliver 120 strike drones with warheads over approximately five weeks. Based on the results, the Pentagon will distribute orders for 50,000–60,000 drones among the top performers.