Hegseth realigning DOD’s scattered unmanned and autonomy work under new drone boss
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth established a new direct reporting portfolio manager for unmanned offensive and defensive systems — dubbed DRPM-UxS — to serve as the “single joint integrator” for almost all of the Pentagon’s autonomous and drone assets, investments and operations.
In an official memorandum to senior Defense Department and military leaders dated June 29, Hegseth called UxS “the most consequential battlefield innovation of this generation” and laid out instructions to set up the new hub to ensure that the agency is moving “at the speed this moment demands.”
“While global military unmanned systems production has skyrocketed over the last three years, the United States has been slow to field these capabilities at scale,” he wrote in the memo, which the department released on Wednesday.
As he suggested, drones are saturating international markets as America hustles to operationalize them and better protect its domestic infrastructure from a rise in risky, adversarial incursions. Drone swarms and other deadly robotic warfare tactics have also been playing out in real-world conflicts around the Middle East and Ukraine.
Hegseth’s seven-page memo states that the new DRPM-UxS will have directive authority over the department’s:
- Unmanned aerial group 1-3 systems
- Unmanned surface vessels — except the Navy’s current medium USV program
- Unmanned underwater vessels — in coordination with DRPM Submarines
- Unmanned ground systems
- Unmanned autonomy/artificial intelligence/swarming software
- Counter-unmanned systems
- Logistical support to unmanned systems
- Unmanned and counter-unmanned system marketplaces
A Pentagon spokesperson declined to share whether an interim DRPM-UxS director has been named. When the team is fully functional, that official will report to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.
The DOD’s drone boss will “direct all activities to develop, procure, field, sustain, and operationalize unmanned and autonomous systems across all domains,” Hegseth wrote.
Initial elements that have been aligned under the DRPM-UxS are Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401) and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG).
Hegseth noted that organizations and personnel assigned to the department’s components that are executing UxS-related activities may be placed under the control and directive tasking authority of the new DRPM when necessary to achieve system synchronization.
The DRPM-UxS “will take precedence on all acquisition matters related to execution of UxS programs” after the defense secretary and his deputy, the memo states.
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) will serve as the primary industry engagement interface between the DOD and its commercial partners for programs within the new portfolio.
Among other responsibilities, the DRPM-UxS will also generate and enforce joint technical standards, interoperability requirements, and open architecture requirements for the military’s drones and autonomous platforms.
Hegseth set deadlines in his memo for DOD personnel to complete multiple, near-term tasks — like hiring staff, inventorying the military’s drone work, and defining the organizational construct — to formally install the new DRPM.
