Army secretary says US can't keep pumping money into expensive weapons that can be taken out by an $800 Russian drone [View all]

Source: Business Insider

May 7, 2025, 5:51 AM ET


The US can't keep building and buying expensive weapons that are vulnerable to drones that are produced at a fraction of the cost, the Army secretary said. "We keep creating and purchasing these exquisite machines that very cheap drones can take out," Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said during an episode of the "War on the Rocks" podcast that aired Tuesday.

"If the number is even remotely right, that Russia has manufactured 1 million drones in the last 12 months, that just makes us have to rethink the cost of what we're buying," he continued. "We are the wealthiest nation, perhaps in the history of the world, but even we can't sustain a couple-million-dollar piece of equipment that can be taken out with an $800 drone and munition," he said.

Driscoll was responding to a question about whether the US military was walking away from the Robotic Combat Vehicle. He said that while the concept was valuable, the cost ratio didn't work. The US military has been watching the war in Ukraine, where cheap drones packed with explosives are damaging or destroying expensive combat equipment like tanks, other armored vehicles, air defenses, and even warships, highlighting the vulnerability of larger and more prized weapons that are insufficiently defended.

The proliferation of cheap drones — some of which cost as little as a few hundred dollars — has become a growing concern for the US military as it readies for the possibility of a large-scale confrontation between NATO and Russia in Europe or a fight with China in the Pacific.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/army-secretary-us-cant-make-expensive-weapons-vulnerable-cheap-drones-2025-5