US Army Has the Drones. Now It Needs More Trained Operators

US Army officials say the service has amassed enough small drones to spread them across its formations. Col. Gregory Merkl, the Army’s director of drone dominance, said the service fielded 10,000 drones after the first phase of the Drone Dominance program and is receiving another 30,000. He said that quantity is enough to get drones down to every squad level.

The shift makes training the central challenge. Merkl said the Army has drone capability in every platoon, but still needs more qualified pilots at the squad level.

The Army plans to field thousands of low-cost, one-way attack drones by next fiscal year and has used Gauntlet events to select drone companies for further evaluation. A memo from US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed changes in how the Pentagon buys and integrates small uncrewed aerial systems across the armed forces.

That effort led to Drone Dominance, described as an iterative development program investing $1 billion to purchase at least 200,000 drones through 2027. The takeaway: the Army is not just buying drones; it is trying to build a repeatable process for getting them into formations and keeping lessons flowing back into doctrine, organization, and acquisition decisions.

The Army’s operator-training efforts include the Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course and programs focused on flying specific drone models. The service is also exposing soldiers to drones in basic training, first building familiarity and then moving into tactics across different scenarios.

One approach launched last year was a three-week crash course at Fort Rucker, Alabama, described as a “catch-up” effort to close the US gap on drones. The course taught basics of piloting while also exploring how to build and 3D print parts.

Army officials have said they are prioritizing soldier feedback on drone systems, as well as lessons from the war in Ukraine and US soldiers who have trained with Ukrainians. Observations from Army drone courses have also highlighted skills some soldiers already bring, including drone hobbies, video-game experience, and engineering know-how.

The Army is phasing out the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s specialized drone unit, which officials said was always temporary. Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie said the unit provided lessons, realistic training scenarios, and feedback that the institutional Army is using for decisions on doctrine, organization, and acquisitions.