US develops cheaper drones in arms shift

The US has lost upwards of 25% of its Reaper drones during the Iran war, The Washington Post reported Thursday, as the conflict taxes diminishing American stockpiles.

Costing up to $50 million each, the slow, low-flying drones present easy pickings, and represent something of a bygone era. The Pentagon is now shifting to developing cheap drone swarms, but there’s a learning curve: Ukrainian operators “easily” defeated US forces in exercises earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported, as both Ukraine and Russia search for the next battlefield breakthrough.

Ukrainian intelligence said that Moscow is making “much faster” progress in standing up a Starlink copycat than anticipated, with 40 satellites in orbit and nearly 300 planned for 2027.