Defense Innovation Board takes a closer look at growing military drone challenges

Experts from the Defense Innovation Board may soon be conducting a new in-depth study into the complex topic of military drones, two officials confirmed after a closed-door meeting this week where issues related to unmanned aircraft systems dominated discussions.

Shortly after the meeting, in a small roundtable discussion with reporters hosted by the Defense Press Association, former Navy admiral and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and DIB member Michael Mullen and technology investment executive Charles Phillips revealed what attendees had discussed privately.

“The last hour and a half, we [conversations with four contractors we met with] “We're just inviting countries that are at different stages and have different capabilities when it comes to the drone world and seeing what their challenges were,” Mullen told DefenseScoop during a briefing.

Currently led by businessman and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the DIB was founded in 2016 to provide independent advice to Department of Defense leadership on emerging technologies and related policies and innovative approaches.

“[One] “The topic we'll be addressing is one that's been making waves in the media: U.S.-made drones are often not working in Ukraine amid a brutal Russian aggression. So we'll also be looking at how the military can develop more effective, cheaper drones, and how we can encourage the market to produce more drones. And I look forward to working on that new research,” Bloomberg said before concluding the committee's public meeting on Wednesday.

During a roundtable discussion with reporters, Phillips elaborated that drone technology was “an area that came up a lot” during the DIB's closed-door forum.

“What is clear is that the US drones we sent [over to Ukraine] “They don't work. They're too expensive. They clog all the time. So the ones that work seem to come from other countries. So we have to learn how to make them at a much lower cost. We have to not over-specify them and basically design them for the problems we're seeing there,” explained the retired Marine Corps captain.

Phillips said part of the meeting focused on how the U.S. can better build out drone technology at scale.

“Inventory levels are low. Ukraine is using 10,000 drones a month. If you multiply that, if you get something bigger for the U.S., you'll need hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, in the long run. So we need to reset the scale of how we think about it and learn how to manufacture it more cheaply,” he said.

“One of the companies there makes composites, so there are better ways to make things that are cheaper and lighter than what we have now, so that was another theme,” Phillips added.

Among other topics discussed was how to give drone manufacturers of all sizes easier access to partnerships and related pathways for working with Department of Defense parts.

“One drone company talked about investing tens of millions of dollars and was confident in what they were doing and had done a lot of testing on the commercial side for commercial use, but they invested tens of millions of dollars in the hopes of winning the contract. [with DOD]A lot of people can't do that. So how do you fill that gap? And how do you understand what it literally takes to run a business? [Pentagon] “Why should we be building to meet the challenges of technology, especially now, at this rapid pace?” Mullen said.

In response to follow-up questions on Thursday, a DIB spokesman said the committee “has held preparatory sessions to inform future work, but these sessions are closed to the public.”

“As such, we cannot disclose the names of the companies that attended,” the official told DefenseScoop.

Written by: Brandi Vincent Brandi Vincent is DefenseScoop's Pentagon correspondent. She reports on emerging and disruptive technologies and related policies that impact the Department of Defense and its personnel. Prior to joining Scoop News Group, she produced feature documentaries and worked as a journalist for Nextgov, Snapchat and NBC networks. She was named a 2021 Paul Miller Washington Fellow by the National Press Foundation and received SIIAs 2020 Jesse H. Neal Award for Best News Reporting. Brandi grew up in Louisiana and earned her Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland.

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