We Can’t Fly The Future If We Can’t Build It

Drones, sometimes called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), are having a transformational moment. While drones have existed since the early 20th century (originally designed for military missions too dangerous for humans), recent advances in automation, AI, and scalable manufacturing have opened the skies to everything from small consumer quadcopters to heavy-lift aircraft capable of carrying substantial cargo.

Today, the global drone market spans consumer, commercial, and defense sectors, delivering value through actionable data, efficiency, and cost savings.

Medium- to large-sized drones offer greater payload capacity, range, and endurance, making them ideal for logistics, large-scale inspections, and critical missions. They can deliver medical and emergency supplies to remote areas, survey disaster zones, and locate missing people in wide-area search and rescue efforts. In the aerospace and defense sector, drones provide real-time intelligence that enables safer, smarter operations while reducing risk to personnel.

Smaller, lightweight quadcopters or fixed-wing UAVs have more maneuverability and can help capture ‘birds-eye-views’ for filmmakers, map farmland to assess crop health and irrigation, and inspect roofs or cell towers. Skydio is a U.S. leader in this category, with drones that inspect energy grids, assist in life-and-death public safety scenarios, support bridge inspections, and carry out search-and-rescue missions.

Just over sixty days ago, the White House issued three Executive Orders aimed at re-industrializing U.S. airspace:

1. EO 1: fast-tracks Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations and electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft
2. EO2: expands counter-UAS detection to restore airspace sovereignty
3. EO3: lifts the 1973 ban on overland supersonic flight to accelerate innovation

These EOs were preceded by House and Senate Armed Services Committees’ April defense reconciliation, which committed $150 billion to restoring U.S. military capabilities, including $25 billion for munitions and counter-drone capabilities. Then came June’s FY 2026 Defense Budget request: $1.01 trillion total (+13.4% over FY25), $13.4 billion for autonomous systems including offensive drone platforms, and $3.1 billion across all services for counter-UAS. In July, H.R.1 earmarked $33 billion in direct spending to advance drones, autonomous systems, and broader U.S. defense modernization: the largest single investment in these technologies to-date.

Recently, the Defense Department also announced plans to support the U.S. drone manufacturing base by equipping U.S. military combat units with “legions of small, inexpensive, American-made drones” paired with investments in simulated drone combat training.

Legislation and financial investment are both promising signals for policymakers, drone companies, and the broader U.S. defense sector. But we can’t confuse policy momentum and funding with actual production readiness.

Building the future of flight isn’t solely about getting fiscal and regulatory lift off (although it helps), it’s about building production systems that are as agile, traceable, and software-driven as the aircrafts themselves.

A drone is flown for recreational purposes in the sky above Old Bethpage, New York on August 30, 2015. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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The Cost of Dependency

U.S. drone production is lagging, not for lack of technology development or innovation, because of our dependence on Chinese imports. Globally, commercial drone production is currently dominated by China.

DJI, of Shenzhen, China, alone accounts for about 70% of all global commercial drones sold for hobby and industrial use. The House of Representatives recently passed a bill to ban DJI from supplying its drones in the U.S. with the “Countering CCP Drones Act,” prompted by concerns that Chinese-made drones could be used to leak secure data on U.S. infrastructure vulnerabilities.

However, because most drones and drone parts come from China, the U.S. stands at a disadvantage. As Beijing tightens trade restrictions on exporting drones, many drone manufacturers are now working quickly to try to find ways to build drone subcomponents onshore themselves.

But this is easier said than done—and U.S. drone manufacturers are up against a slew of obstacles:

• The U.S. is still heavily dependent on China for drone components, such as polysilicon, rare earth magnets, flight controllers, cameras, radios, batteries, power systems, and other key drone components.

  If U.S. drone companies want to win government contracts, they need to meet the Pentagon’s new Blue UAS program requirements, which means that drone platforms must be entirely free of Chinese subcomponents. So far, compliance has proven difficult; over 300 companies applied to the Blue List, but only 23 made the cut. For most, failure came down to a single imported part.

• It will take time to scale production. The entire U.S. drone sector, made up of about 500 companies, produces fewer than 100,000 units per year. Compare this to Ukraine, where small workshops are now churning out 200,000 low-cost drones per month, or Russia, which recently tripled its 2025 drone production target.

  And, because ‘Made in America’ parts and components aren’t as cheap as Chinese equivalents, many drone companies are quickly realizing that full supply chain diversification could take a decade.

• Talent and skills shortages persist. A 2025 Aerospace Industries Association’s (AIA) annual aerospace and defense (A&D) workforce survey revealed that persistent core talent shortages and high attrition rates threaten to limit future progress of the A&D industry, with 76% of AIA member organizations reporting ongoing challenges in hiring engineering talent, and 56% reporting challenges with sourcing skilled trades talent.

Looking inward before looking upward

Drones are as much software as they are hardware. That means we need to ask difficult questions about our production systems: “Do we have digital maturity on the factory floor?” “Are our systems built for traceability and compliance by design?” “Can our frontline workers see, understand, and respond to what’s happening in real-time?”

Consider traceability requirements alone: for a drone to meet Blue UAS standards, manufacturers not only need to track final assembly, but every component: where it came from, how it was built, and who touched it. That level of visibility doesn’t happen by accident, but by design. It requires robust data infrastructure, cross-functional coordination, and real-time feedback loops.

Yes, we need policy alignment, funding, and localized supply chains, but if we want to scale domestic airspace production, we must also invest in the digital infrastructure that brings everything together. This means implementing flexible digital production systems that combine robust quality (QA/QC) systems, real-time data visibility, traceability, and security.

This might look like:

• Fully-connected data and systems, for real-time data collection and analysis. By connecting together siloed PLM, ERP, and QMS systems, and integrating data across all factory hardware and software systems (scales, torque drivers, printers, barcode scanners, etc), drone factories can be better prepared to understand what’s happening in real-time, and identify how to improve efficiency or mitigate risks.
• Simple onboarding apps for new operators. By implementing easy-to-follow instructive, dynamic digital apps, it’s easier to guide new operators through SOPs for assembly, inspections, calibrations, and machine setup.
• AI tools that are purpose-built for operations to help ease the strain of workforce shortages. This might include: chatbots to provide instant reference support, AI-vision tools that act as another set of ‘eyes’ to detect defects and reduce waste, or instant multilingual translation for broader accessibility.

This isn’t the glamorous side of innovation, but it’s the infrastructure that makes innovation real, especially in aerospace and defense, where flexibility is as valuable as speed. If we are serious about reclaiming leadership in drone manufacturing, we must build more than aircraft. We must build the digital foundations that make scale, security, and resilience possible.