Overview

• A memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sets goals to strengthen the nascent US drone industry and clear additional American commercial UAVs for battlefield service.
• The directive tasks military branches with arming units with expendable quadcopters, operating force-on-force drone exercises, and equipping every squad with cheap drones by next year.
• DoD will repurpose spare land to build three live-fire training ranges and update the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue Unmanned Aerial Systems list to accelerate approvals.
• Procurement rules have been loosened by expanding government purchase-card authority and rescinding restrictions on certain foreign-manufactured drones.
• The rock-driven promo video, featuring Hegseth signing a drone-delivered memo to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” has drawn “cringe” mockery online and raised licensing questions even as MAGA insiders and Elon Musk praise the push.