U.S. Veterans Urge Drone-Warfare Overhaul as Ukraine Targets 10 Million Drones in 2026
Updated
Updated · Forbes · Jun 24
U.S. Veterans Urge Drone-Warfare Overhaul as Ukraine Targets 10 Million Drones in 2026
2 articles · Updated · Forbes · Jun 24
Summary
U.S. special operations veterans say Ukraine’s war shows the Pentagon needs more than drones—it needs faster battlefield adaptation, training and procurement reform.
Bakhmut and Avdiivka helped drive that view: veterans described drones directing artillery, exposing snipers and replacing scarce shells with first-person-view strikes when U.S. aid stalled.
Ukraine’s pace has become the benchmark, with independent estimates of about 4 million drones made in 2025, 5 million to 6 million possible in 2026, and Zelensky targeting roughly 10 million.
Joseph Gagnard, a retired Green Beret, rated U.S. lesson-absorption a 7 out of 10 but warned Washington is copying hardware rather than Ukraine’s full innovation ecosystem.
That broader lesson—rapid experimentation by soldiers, startups, engineers and volunteers—dominated June’s Meridian Forge conference and framed veterans’ warning that future wars will punish slow institutions.