Vice President J.D. Vance has warned that unmanned drone systems pose a serious challenge to national security. He emphasized the urgent need to equip U.S. forces with the tools and capabilities required to defend the homeland and U.S. interests from these emerging technologies, which have the potential to disrupt military operations and endanger the lives of American troops on the battlefield.1
Ka’Von Johnson and Wilson Beaver, “The Deadly Role of Drones in Ukraine,” The Daily Signal, February 27, 2025, https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/02/27/the-deadly-role-of-drones-in-ukraine/.
The United States must invest in and adapt to the rise of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) while pursuing integration and interoperability in counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) to optimize joint capabilities.
This need is underscored by the increasing frequency of drone incursions on U.S. military bases, attacks against U.S. forces, lessons from the war in Ukraine, and the expanding UAS capabilities of non-state actors. Of particular concern is the potential for drone swarms—coordinated masses of unmanned systems that can overwhelm traditional defenses through sheer volume.
To defend itself against such threats, the United States must prioritize the rapid development and deployment of countermeasures capable of neutralizing both individual drones and drone swarms. Equally important will be the development of C-UAS that is economically sustainable in light of the growing number of cheap drones among U.S. adversaries.
A cautionary note: Despite some claims to the contrary, drones have not revolutionized every aspect of warfare, and traditional systems—such as armor, manned warships, and fighter jets—will continue their prominent roles in military operations. The proliferation of drones among non-state actors and the potential for large states to deploy drones at scale do,
however, present an increasingly lethal challenge to which the United States will need to adapt. Militaries around the planet are engaged in the development of C-UAS to deal with this threat, and the impressive success of Israeli and U.S. air defenses in shooting down the drones and missiles of the large Iranian salvo in April 2024 should be some comfort to defense planners contemplating the threat posed by unmanned systems.
Context and Background
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