DOD drone spending surges across 214 budget lines as Hegseth orders mass fielding

By Jason Sherman / July 11, 2025 at 1:23 PM
While the Pentagon has a new plan for "drone dominance," you won't find the effort concentrated in one part of the defense budget. Instead, funding for unmanned aircraft and counter-drone systems is distributed across at least 214 separate program lines, according to a Real Time Defense analysis of fiscal years 2025 and 2026. Real Time Defense , a new analytical tool that facilitates deep dives into Defense Department budgets and programs, was used to identify 96 drone-related procurement and research,...

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