Inside America’s Fight for Drone Dominance
About this episode
This episode discusses America's efforts to enhance its drone capabilities and reduce reliance on foreign parts, featuring insights from Travis Metz of the Defense Innovation Unit.
The U.S. military needs more drones, and it needs to build them without Chinese parts. Today, Defense Innovation Unit Deputy Director Travis Metz joins School of War to discuss how America can build drones quickly, cheaply, and on U.S. soil; what America can learn from Ukraine’s drone war; and the Pentagon’s new billion-dollar effort to upgrade its aging military technology. 2:23 - Why America Is Behind on Drones 4:32 - The Drone Dominance Program 6:51 - Breaking Dependence on China 10:23 - The Different Types of Drones 13:34 - Ukraine’s Mid-Range Strike Revolution 16:00 - Cheap Drones at Long Range 18:47 - AI, Autonomy, and Electronic Warfare 21:47 - How Drone Dominance Works 24:33 - Building an American Drone Industry 33:55 - Lessons From Fort Benning 39:19 - Cheap and Expendable Drones 42:01 - Testing Drones for Different Missions 50:14 - The Next Phase of Drone Dominance 55:09 - How Many Drones Does America Need? 1:02:49 - Recreating Ukraine’s Innovation Cycle This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com. Learn more…
Topics covered
- drone technology
- military innovation
- U.S. defense strategy
- China dependency
- Ukraine conflict
- artificial intelligence
- autonomy in warfare
Sponsors
Maven Smart System
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