In Huntsville, Alabama, the Army wrapped up its inaugural Best Drone Warfighter Competition with awards for Best Operator, Best Innovation and Best Tactical Squad from among more than 200 competitors.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Maj. Gen. Clair A. Gill, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, were on hand to present the honors and spotlight the service’s plan to push unmanned systems onto every front of modern warfare.

Driscoll used the moment to frame a broader push for rapid drone scaling and to describe a shift in how the Army purchases and uses unmanned aircraft.

He said, "A lot of what we’ve been spending the last year doing is reorienting a lot of our systems so that a drone is not thought of as a piece of equipment that a soldier will have to sign out of an arms room and return, but more like an ammunition or a round that you take to a range," he said. His comments underscored a mindset that treats drones as integral combat gear rather than standalone assets.

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“I think our near-term goals are more qualitative,” he added. “We as an Army have got to figure out how to reset how we think about purchasing things like drones, how we think about training on things like drones and how we think about repairing them on the edge.”

The emphasis, he explained, is on speed and scalability, ensuring that the force can field, maintain and upgrade drone capabilities at the pace of evolving threats.

Driscoll did not mince words about the urgency of expanding unmanned capabilities. “We know if we look at our threats around the world, like in China or other nations that are producing 5 million to 15 million drones, we are short of that in both our commercial and military sector,” he said.

He argued that lagging behind adversaries in drone production would undermine national security and demanded a reoriented approach to procurement and training.

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“The biggest thing that we in the United States Army and as federal officials and Americans face, the biggest dilemma, is how broad of the threat exists and how you layer in solutions that can take into account how much territory is required to be defended,” Driscoll stated, highlighting the scale of the challenge and the need for layered defenses.

At the same time, he stressed that the Army will not wait for perfect technology before moving forward with deployment.

A drone marketplace is the centerpiece of this strategy, Gill explained. “We’re going to allow the consumers — that’s our soldiers and our units — to rate the equipment that’s being sold there,” he said.

“It’s going to allow for a natural free market economy to drive the best product.” His comments pointed to a future in which user feedback and private industry compete to deliver better, cheaper solutions at a faster clip.

Driscoll connected the marketplace concept to a broader national effort. “I think the urgency is there,” he said. “If you talk to members of Congress, whether it’s a defense prime or a startup, everyone knows we have to solve this problem.

If you go speak to any of these soldiers out here, the talent and the innovation is there.” He framed the drone push as a bipartisan, national priority that transcends any single administration.

The secretary did not shy away from the sobering realities of modern warfare. “What keeps me up at night is just the sheer magnitude of the problem that is required and the concept of these layered defenses,” he admitted.

He added that the industry and the force must be prepared to defend a wide swath of territory against rapidly evolving unmanned threats, a task that requires both innovation and political will.

The competition’s winners embodied the range of what the service seeks. A team assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment earned the Best Tactical Squad award. In addition, 1st Sgt. Javon Purchner won Best Operator for his drone racing skills.

The Army National Guard’s 28th Infantry Division captured Best Innovation with a drone recovering UAS called Project RED. Driscoll thanked all competitors for exploring how to use drones “offensively, just as any threat against us might,” and drew on his recent experience in Geneva and other discussions abroad.

As the ceremony concluded, Driscoll reflected on the larger implications of drone warfare. He noted that his conversations with Ukrainians, Russians, and others revealed a battlefield where drones are no longer merely aviation assets or infantry concerns.

Rather, they are a fundamental force multiplier that requires a unified strategy, robust industrial capacity, and a soldier-first approach to acquisition and training. The message was clear: the era of slow, cumbersome drone programs is ending, and America must sprint to equality with, and surpass, global competitors by empowering soldiers and leveraging private-sector ingenuity.

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