So far, the US Army have assigned between 300 to 400 uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) among units within its Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) in accordance with plans to reshape how the service operates in the future.
Since the Army began to re-examine its force structure this time last year, in an effort to “rebalance” their capabilities, the service is making progress towards its goal of deploying UAS across all its company-level units. Their continuous acquisition of the attritable UAS will enable units to replace systems at the point of need.
As part of the restructuring, the force will phase out its legacy RQ-7B Shadow and RQ-11 Raven intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) UAS fleets – which entered service in 2002 and 2005 respectively – for the innumberable mass of tactical systems to come.
Anduril’s Ghost X and the Performance Works C-100 quadcopter are among the new UAS models. The Army selected the two small, rotary systems in September 2024.
These tactical UAS allow more manoeuvable companies to conduct multiple tasks with rapidly reconfigurable, attritable, modular payload capabilities to execute ISR and target acquisition missions. UAS accompanying mobile armoured forces provide a greater picture of the battlespace and threats as part of a crewed-uncrewed teaming model.
According to GlobalData intelligence, the global military UAS market was valued at $14bn in 2024 and is projected to reach $26bn by 2034; this reflects a compound annual growth rate of 6.3% over the period.
For now, the US Department of Defense operate more than 11,000 UAS across all three armed services. They are typically used to support domestic training and overseas contingency missions. Whereas, the Army’s new UAS will go onto to play a primary role.
Trump calculus will increase UAS procurement
Certain defence programmes will benefit from the US government’s ongoing divestment from Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) structures and programmes, according to Pete Hegseth, the new US Defense Secretary.
Upon entering government, Hegseth paused the Pentagon’s finances as the new administration undertakes a sweeping audit with the aim of filtering programmes and investment according to US President Donald Trump’s America First doctrine.
While the crusade will diminish the value of having a diverse outlook across the military apparatus, Hegseth maintained the government will redistribute DEI costs towards more lethal programmes that he contends are “mission critical.”
The Pentagon chief points to the proliferation of UAS as one of these priority areas for the Trump administration, including, among other policies, building an Iron Dome air defence network for America.
The first iteration of the Replicator initaitive provides a sense of the scale for America’s UAS procurement across its armed forces. Established in August 2023 under the former Biden administration, the government is acquiring “multiple thousands” of systems across all domains by August 2025.
Army Technology approached the DoD to ask what Trump’s plans are for the programme. Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesperson, assured that “there are no changes to announce regarding the Replicator 1 or Replicator 2 initiatives or timelines” at present.
