How Did the World’s Most Sophisticated Military Fall So Far Behind With Drone Warfare?

 

When the Pentagon announced a “joint interagency task force” in July to bring the U.S. military up to speed on drone warfare, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James Mingus compared drones to the threat of improvised explosive devices two decades earlier in Iraq.

 

The drone, said Mingus, “is our IED of today” — a war-transforming technology that smaller powers could use to put big powers at a disadvantage. Ukraine has demonstrated this brilliantly over the last few years through its innovative use of drones to stymie the invading Russians. And 20-odd years ago, another nation that once saw itself as all-powerful on the battlefield — the United States — found itself flummoxed in the streets of Iraq and Afghanistan as insurgents deployed IEDs to kill or maim thousands of young Americans in a new kind of “asymmetric” warfare.

 

“We cannot move fast enough in this space,” Mingus said last month. What he neglected to say, however, was that the Pentagon took tragically long to combat the IED. Many within the military and Congress — among them, notably, then-Sen. Joe Biden — were outraged over nearly two years of delays in deploying the MRAP, or “Mine Resistant Ambush Protected” vehicle, to address the IED threat.

 

Read more:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/08/27/pentagon-drone-technology-deficiency-00525058

27 minutes ago, CatCage said:

How Did the World’s Most Sophisticated Military Fall So Far Behind With Drone Warfare?

Because the "World's Most Sophisticated Military" hasn't fought in a real combined arms war since 1945.

I don't think it fell behind so much as the evolution of drones in Ukraine was so fast that the US got left behind playing catch up. 

UA, superior drones ... seriously 

 

Drones = poor man's cruise missile.

 

hmm .. UA not even mentioned ... go figure 

 

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

UA, superior drones ... seriously 

 

Drones = poor man's cruise missile.

 

hmm .. UA not even mentioned ... go figure 

 

Had you bothered to read the article, you would know that it's a matter of cost effectiveness. Maybe a gold plated drone made in the USA but China and Ukraine produce mass amounts of cheap drones that can destroy military multimillion dollar military materiel.

From the article:

"Most significantly, after watching Ukrainians destroy Russian tanks and strategic aircraft with armed drones, Hegseth said drones should now be treated like munitions — cheap, expendable and mass produceable — and not like a new, expensive aircraft, development of which can take years longer to get through Pentagon red tape."

 

5 hours ago, CatCage said:

How Did the World’s Most Sophisticated Military Fall So Far Behind With Drone Warfare?

 

When the Pentagon announced a “joint interagency task force” in July to bring the U.S. military up to speed on drone warfare, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James Mingus compared drones to the threat of improvised explosive devices two decades earlier in Iraq.

 

The drone, said Mingus, “is our IED of today” — a war-transforming technology that smaller powers could use to put big powers at a disadvantage. Ukraine has demonstrated this brilliantly over the last few years through its innovative use of drones to stymie the invading Russians. And 20-odd years ago, another nation that once saw itself as all-powerful on the battlefield — the United States — found itself flummoxed in the streets of Iraq and Afghanistan as insurgents deployed IEDs to kill or maim thousands of young Americans in a new kind of “asymmetric” warfare.

 

“We cannot move fast enough in this space,” Mingus said last month. What he neglected to say, however, was that the Pentagon took tragically long to combat the IED. Many within the military and Congress — among them, notably, then-Sen. Joe Biden — were outraged over nearly two years of delays in deploying the MRAP, or “Mine Resistant Ambush Protected” vehicle, to address the IED threat.

 

Read more:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/08/27/pentagon-drone-technology-deficiency-00525058