Pentagon centralises drone oversight under new office

The Pentagon said on Wednesday they are consolidating oversight of all military drones and autonomous systems under a newly created office, as the War Department moves to accelerate the development and deployment of the technology across the armed forces.

According to a War Department memo, cited by American media, the newly established Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems will report directly to Deputy Secretary of War Stephen Feinberg and will oversee unmanned and autonomous systems across land, sea and air domains.

The office will also supervise funding, acquisition and policy for unmanned systems programs that are currently distributed across the military services, the Defence Innovation Unit, Joint Interagency Task Force 401 and the Defence Autonomous Warfare Group.

They said the move is intended to centralise oversight of the Pentagon’s rapidly expanding drone and autonomous systems programs.

“Drones and autonomous systems represent the most consequential battlefield innovation of this generation,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement announcing the reorganisation.

“Adversaries collectively produce millions of unmanned systems each year across all domains,” he continued. “While global military production has skyrocketed over the last three years, the United States must move at the speed this moment demands to field these capabilities at scale and secure our tactical and strategic edge.”

The announcement comes as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to expand the military’s use of drones and autonomous systems.

In December, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth promoted the administration’s “Drone Dominance” initiative, describing it as “a billion-dollar program funded by President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.”

“We cannot afford to shoot down cheap drones with $2 million missiles. And we ourselves must be able to field large quantities of capable attack drones,” Hegseth said in a video message.

He added that the Pentagon plans to deliver tens of thousands of small drones to US forces in 2026 and hundreds of thousands more by 2027, while reshaping warfighting doctrine to integrate unmanned systems throughout combat units.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has also repeatedly argued that drones will dominate future battlefields.

“Drones are the future of warfare. Manned aircraft are not,” Musk wrote in a post on X last year.

They said the new office will consolidate specialized expertise under a single leadership structure to accelerate the development, procurement and deployment of autonomous capabilities, helping preserve the US military’s tactical and strategic advantage over potential adversaries.

By Tamilla Hasanova