Lawmakers Push Back On US Army Drone Unit Shutdown

Senators want the Army to explain stripping the 173rd Airborne of its drone specialization. Elsewhere: Ukraine’s ousted tech chief lands Palantir’s CEO as investor, a new VR drone trainer, a German loitering munition, and India’s helicopter drones.

Lawmakers Push Back On The Army’s Drone Retreat

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers, including senators Jeanne Shaheen, Thom Tillis and Angus King alongside representative Mike Turner, has written to the Army demanding an explanation for its decision to strip the 173rd Airborne Brigade of its dedicated drone specialization after less than a year. The letter warns the move could limit the Army’s ability to learn from Ukraine and says lawmakers want to know whether the decision came from Pentagon leadership or was made internally, following the abrupt, unexplained ouster of Army chief of staff General Randy George in April, the officer who had championed the unit.

Ukraine’s Tech Chief Finds A New Silicon Valley Backer

Ukraine’s own drone-era leadership is regrouping outside government instead. Mykhailo Fedorov, the ousted defense minister who built Ukraine’s Delta battlefield management system, is launching a new defense venture with Palantir chief executive Alex Karp as its first investor. Karp’s backing could bring significant capital given Palantir’s 93% year on year revenue growth and a valuation that has climbed nearly 28-fold since its 2020 listing, with Fedorov saying the goal is technology that will “strengthen Ukraine, help our allies” from outside a formal government role.

The Army Still Wants Its Soldiers Drone-Ready

Even as the specialized unit winds down, the wider Army is still investing in preparing ordinary soldiers for drone warfare. Its new Virtual Drone Collective Trainer, built in-house at Fort Leavenworth on two to three week development sprints, lets whole units practice fighting alongside friendly drones and defending against hostile swarms using real combat controllers plugged into standard laptops. A recent exercise at Fort Cavazos, Texas, networked 145 laptops together so simulated drone threats appeared directly on real Mission Command systems for an entire battalion staff.

A German Loiterer Passes Its Warhead Test

Europe’s own drone development kept moving this week too. German startup STARK and MBDA subsidiary TDW have completed live testing of the warhead for their Gambit loitering munition, proving it effective against lightly armored targets using a fully NATO qualified warhead built entirely in Germany. The foldable quadcopter is designed for a single soldier to carry and deploy within minutes, with a fibre optic control option for contested electromagnetic environments, building on the companies’ earlier Virtus system, Germany’s first live firing of a loitering munition last December.

India Wants Its Helicopters Launching Drones Too

India is chasing a capability several allies have already fielded. The Indian Air Force has issued a request for proposal for drones deployable from helicopters, carrying at least a 500 gram warhead over an 80 kilometer range, alongside a separate request for loitering munitions launched from transport aircraft with a 500 kilometer range and 30 kilogram warhead. The approach mirrors a US Army test that saw a Black Hawk launch an Altius-700 hunter-killer team from Project Convergence, part of a wider push to keep crewed aircraft further from danger while its fighter fleet, stretched by an ongoing squadron shortage, is freed for other missions.

A Chinese Combat Drone Turns Up In Chad

Proliferation is moving faster than official announcements in parts of Africa. Satellite imagery shows four Chinese CH-4 combat drones at an air base in Chad, though the government has not confirmed any purchase. If accurate, it would make Chad the third African country after the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria to field the CH-4, a long endurance aircraft capable of 40 hours aloft and armed variants able to carry guided bombs, joining a Chadian military buildup that already includes Chinese artillery, Emirati armored vehicles and a €50 million vehicle modernization contract with France’s Arquus.

Featured Image – Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (C) leave for recess during a US House Armed Services Committee hearing titled “Department of Defense FY2027 Budget Request,” on Capitol Hill/AFP/Getty