Defense procurement

U.S. military turns away from drones

The secretive and lethal technology that has defined U.S. counterterror operations for the last decade – and remains the subject of global controversy – appears to be diminishing in importance as America prepares for the next era of combat.

New Pentagon documents show the military plans to invest next year in the lowest number of new drones in more than a decade. Though the complexity of Defense Department budgets makes it difficult to isolate a single reason for the shift, budget analysts agree the Trump administration's stated intention of withdrawing from costly and deadly Middle East wars and instead focus on a resurging China and Russia is driving a focus on other technologies.

Since it was first employed on an industrial scale in Afghanistan, drone technology has evolved, become more lethal and expanded to conflict zones in Iraq and Syria, Libya, Yemen and across sub-Saharan Africa from Somalia to Nigeria. Their ability to exceed prior limits imposed on manned aircraft and to kill America's enemies without putting its warfighters in harm's way has proven irresistible to U.S. presidents since George W. Bush, and a tempting way to obscure involvement in foreign conflict.