House 2025 NDAA Proposes Establishment of Army Drone Corps

A House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025 includes language proposing the creation of a drone corps within the U.S. Army.

Serving as a command center, the corps would facilitate all activities, including procurement, research and development, and testing, related to small and medium-sized unmanned aircraft and counter-drone systems.

Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo, a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker, however, opposes the proposal. Speaking at a Center for a New American Security event, Camarillo explained that the corps will not help speed up product acquisition and will impede existing efforts to provide soldiers with unmanned aerial systems, Federal News Network reported.

He said current efforts that involve Army units experimenting with UAS units are critical to understanding the tactics, techniques and procedures of deploying such technologies during combat. 

According to Camarillo, a concept dubbed “transforming in contact” would better enable the service to accelerate acquisition processes.

The concept, which Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George introduced, aims to have soldiers test UAS and electronic warfare capabilities to identify which product matches the needs of each service unit.