India, July 17 -- The U.S. Defense Department has announced that with help from industry, it will ramp up production and fielding of low-cost drones to maintain battlefield superiority.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth toured the display of 18 American-made drone prototypes at the Pentagon Wednesday.
Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said the prototypes went from concept to development in just an average of 18 months, a process that normally takes up to six years.
The department will continue to rapidly innovate and scale up production of drones and other systems using cost, resilience, firepower and range as driving factors, which are areas DOD wants to improve upon, Michael said.
Hegseth said in a Jul...