US Preparedness for Drone Warfare: Rep. Rogers Questions Sec. Pete Hegseth

Advancements in Drone Warfare

• 🇺🇦 The recent Ukrainian drone operation, launched from 2,500 miles away, signifies a new era of warfare.
• ⚡ The operation was daring, effective, and conducted without prior US awareness, highlighting significant advancements in drone technology.
• 🎯 The US is actively tracking these developments in Ukraine to improve its own lethal, attritable drones and counter-UAS systems.

Evolving Nature of Warfare

• 📈 The way wars are fought is likely changing, with an exponential trend in technology towards mass numbers of rounds with precision and autonomy.
• 🚀 The US aims to acquire capabilities along or ahead of the technology curve to stay prepared.
• ⚔️ This represents a new and different way of fighting wars, as observed in recent conflicts.

Protecting Against Drone Raids

• 🔍 Intelligence (human and signals) is critical for staying ahead of threats like drone raids.
• 🛠️ The department is focused on rapidly fielding commercially available and proprietary technologies, including EW, microwave, and kinetic systems, to defeat drones individually or in swarms.
• 🛡️ Protecting people, installations, critical infrastructure, and bombers from drone threats is a top priority.
• ❓ The US is continuously assessing if forward-deployed troops have adequate counter-UAS systems.

Reducing Reliance on Foreign Technology

• 🇨🇳 China dominates drone production (90%), necessitating a reduction in reliance on Chinese technology and supply chains.
• 🇮🇷 Iran also invests substantially in drone capabilities.
• 🇺🇦 Learning from partners like Ukraine, who have developed and fielded systems rapidly, is crucial.
• 🏠 Producing commercially available, attritable drones at home is a key objective.