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Unmanned Systems

In Response To Flag Concerns, DoD Looks To Reduce Drone Prices, As Order for 30,000 Looms

Frank Wolfe

Thursday, March 5th, 2026

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In Response To Flag Concerns, DoD Looks To Reduce Drone Prices, As Order for 30,000 Looms

Pictured is Army Maj. Gen. Steven Marks, the director of the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, as he testifies on Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Pentagon is bargain shopping for Group 1 drones, as other countries, including Ukraine and China, have taken advantage of consumer electronics-level prices to bolster their stables. "In last spring's posture hearings, our four star commanders acknowledged that they didn't have enough, as a proportion, of their spend on unmanned systems," Owen West, DoD's senior advisor for drone dominance, told a Thursday Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the small drone industrial base. "The basic problem they identified was price,"…

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