Overview
- A March Army memorandum obtained by CBS News says pressure to deploy low-cost expendable drones is leading units to ignore basic explosive-safety practices.
- The memo describes a mini-drone that detonated during troubleshooting inside a building at Fort Polk’s Joint Readiness Training Center, injuring a 3rd Special Forces Group soldier who later returned to duty.
- The Army’s Combat Readiness Center said it received no request to investigate because only incidents with high equipment damage or a permanent injury or death meet its threshold.
- The device was an XM183 “MiniBlast” training cartridge that the memo rated a medium hazard and noted lacked a full material release, the Army’s formal sign-off that a system is safe and supportable for use.
- The warning comes as the Pentagon moves to scale drone production through Joint Interagency Task Force 401 and an industry request for roughly 300,000 drones following the president’s executive order.