The landscape of modern warfare is undergoing a seismic shift, and at the heart of this transformation are drones—small, inexpensive, and increasingly ubiquitous on battlefields from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. The United States, long considered the world’s military superpower, now finds itself lagging behind in the race to develop and deploy these game-changing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as reported by a flurry of recent international news outlets, including CNN, Pars Today, and Ukrainian and European sources.
On September 15, 2025, CNN reported that the US military is playing catch-up in the rapidly evolving field of drone warfare. While Russia and Ukraine have ramped up production to hundreds of thousands—and, in Ukraine’s case, even millions—of drones annually, the US military was caught flat-footed. For years, American defense contractors and strategists prioritized large, expensive equipment like fighter jets and tanks, leaving the Pentagon unprepared to rapidly produce small, cheap drones that have proven so effective on the modern battlefield.
Major General Curt Taylor, commander of the US Army’s 1st Armored Division, did not mince words, telling CNN, “This is not tomorrow’s problem. This is today’s problem. And the first fight of the next war is going to involve more drones than any of us have ever seen.” The urgency is palpable, as the Pentagon scrambles to close the gap by 3D printing drones and organizing training on simulators. But structural issues remain: US drones cannot use Chinese-manufactured parts due to security concerns, and domestic alternatives are significantly more costly—a fact underscored by multiple sources.
According to Pars Today, this reliance on expensive domestic components makes US drone production up to 100 times more expensive than that of its adversaries. While Ukraine aims to produce four million drones in a single year, the Pentagon’s projection is a mere 3,000 units over two years. The cost-power balance has shifted dramatically, with commercial drones costing less than $1,000 now capable of destroying multi-million-dollar tanks. The result? The US, despite its massive military budget, is struggling to adapt to a new era where quantity, adaptability, and cost-effectiveness are king.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has become the unlikely global laboratory for drone warfare. On September 16, 2025, Oleksandr Kamyshin, advisor to the President of Ukraine, reported that Ukrainian UAV-interceptors had shot down 76 Shahed drones in a single night two weeks prior—a testament to the scale and sophistication of Ukraine’s drone operations. “Drones are finally taking their place in every segment of conventional warfare,” Kamyshin said at the 20th annual YES conference in Kyiv, according to multiple sources. He emphasized that Ukraine is not lagging behind Russia in drone scaling and is “ready to catch up with them in every segment of drones—from FPV to large strike aircraft.”
But Ukraine’s drone revolution isn’t just about numbers. The country’s manufacturers produced more than two million FPV drones last year, and are now moving to produce components domestically, even if the initial quality is lower and costs are higher. Kamyshin acknowledged the complexity of the Chinese component issue but was optimistic: “Yes, it will be twice as expensive. Yes, at the moment it (the component) will be of lower quality. But they will expand the scale and improve it in months, not years. So the answer is quite simple. We will do it.”
Despite these successes, Ukrainian manufacturers face their own hurdles. Kamyshin noted that in 2025, they have contracts for only a third of their production capacity and are eager for even one-year contracts to expand further. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s battlefield innovations have not gone unnoticed by the West. US President’s Special Representative Keith Kellogg admitted at the Kyiv conference, “We are lagging behind, seriously lagging behind. Ukrainians are world leaders in drone technology.” This marks a dramatic reversal of roles: Ukraine, once a recipient of Western military aid, is now lecturing NATO and the US on the future of warfare.
The scale of Ukraine’s ambition is staggering. President Volodymyr Zelensky has pitched a $50 billion plan to co-produce 10 million drones over five years to US President Donald Trump. Ukrainian officials describe their drone expertise as Zelensky’s “geopolitical card,” and with good reason: some reports attribute over 80% of Kyiv’s successful attacks to drone operations. This expertise has attracted foreign startups eager to trial their systems on Ukraine’s battlefields, further accelerating innovation and cementing Ukraine’s status as a global testing ground for future wars.
The European Union, too, is taking notice. Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the creation of a “drone wall” on the EU’s Eastern frontier, while European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius emphasized the need for cooperation with Ukrainian manufacturers to build a robust drone ecosystem. Kubilius warned that Europe is not ready for a possible Russian attack, especially given Russia’s growing drone capabilities. The European Commission recently announced €6 billion in funding to Ukraine as part of a drone alliance—an unprecedented move underscoring the strategic importance of UAV technology.
Russia, for its part, is not standing still. During the joint Zapad-2025 military drills with Belarus on September 14, 2025, Russia deployed newly developed satellite communication terminals—codenamed “Kvadrat” and “Sprint”—to provide secure communications for its regional joint force. The “Sprint” system, likely the Spirit-030 terminal, is a compact, suitcase-sized device with a fold-out antenna, while the bulkier “Kvadrat” resembles SpaceX’s Starlink terminals and is capable of transmitting large data volumes across regiment- or division-level formations. Russian developers have even presented new drone systems controllable via Starlink terminals or mobile networks, despite Starlink being officially unavailable in Russia. These innovations suggest that Russia, too, is adapting rapidly to the demands of drone-centric warfare.
The US military, meanwhile, faces a reckoning. Early in the Ukraine conflict, the US provided 100 Switchblade loitering munitions to Ukraine, but deliveries stopped after Ukrainian troops complained about their effectiveness against Russian electronic warfare. In July 2025, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged the gap, blaming “bureaucratic red tape.” He called for the accelerated adoption and deployment of drones, warning, “While our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones, we were mired in bureaucratic red tape.” The message from the Pentagon is clear: the US must act quickly or risk falling irreversibly behind.
As experts warn, the technological shift to cheap, mass-produced drones is irreversible. The US military’s challenge is not just to catch up, but to fundamentally rethink its approach to procurement, innovation, and battlefield tactics. The lessons from Ukraine—and from its adversaries—are stark: the next war will be fought, and perhaps won, by those who can adapt fastest to the drone age.