(Adnkronos) – The Trump Administration is focusing on drones and pushing for production in the US and cost reduction. According to Wall Street Journal sources, negotiations have begun to finance manufacturing companies, and agreements could be possible after months of talks between the Pentagon and the private sector. The Office of Strategic Capital, established during Joe Biden’s presidency with a focus on national security, is also involved, according to the newspaper.
Among the companies cited by the WSJ are Unusual Machines, which supplies drone components and counts Donald Trump Jr. among its shareholders and board advisors, and Neros Technologies, backed by Sequoia Capital, as well as Performance Drone Works, which secured a contract to supply reconnaissance drones to the Army. According to the newspaper’s sources, some proposals under consideration could grant the government an ownership stake in the companies.
According to 2025 estimates, the US has the capacity to manufacture up to 100,000 drones per year. Ukraine, which has been dealing with the conflict triggered by the Russian invasion since 2022, reportedly built about four million last year.
The Department of Defense clarified that “any final decision will be officially communicated at a later time.” Meanwhile, the WSJ writes of ‘work’ in line with the objectives of the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance program, a $1.1 billion initiative to achieve an ‘arsenal’ of approximately 300,000 ‘low-cost’ drones by the end of 2027.
Goals for which, according to many defense officials, production capacity must be significantly enhanced and costs reduced. Many US-made drones are sold for tens of thousands of dollars more than the approximately $5,000 per unit cap set by the Pentagon under the Drone Dominance program.
