Russia’s Defense Ministry says the Pentagon plans to build up a stockpile of hundreds of thousands of kamikaze drones by 2027. According to the ministry, U. S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the development of a procurement system designed to rapidly saturate American forces with unmanned systems.

The Pentagon has published a list of 25 participants in the first phase of its Drone Dominance Program. U.S. military planners, it was stated, intend to overhaul the procurement process so that inexpensive strike UAVs can be deployed across the country in the shortest possible time. The press service specified that the line-up of invited companies includes the Ukrainian firms General Cherry Corp and Ukranian Defence Drones Tech Corp.

The opening phase, called Gauntlet, is scheduled to begin on 18 February at Fort Benning, where the military will test and evaluate the drone systems submitted by the contractors. According to the plan, orders for prototypes worth roughly 150 million dollars will be placed in early March following the selection process. Deliveries are expected to start shortly afterwards and continue for around five months. In total, the program is divided into four stages.

It was previously recalled that in the autumn of last year U. S. President Donald Trump spoke of a possible cooperation with Ukraine in the drone sector. He noted at the time that the role of UAVs in modern warfare had sharply increased in recent years and said Ukraine was producing what he described as very good drones.