The Trump administration is in talks to fund US drone companies, aiming to increase domestic production and lower costs of vital weapons, people familiar with the matter said.
The potential deals follow months of discussions between private-sector drone companies and the Pentagon, which has identified companies like Performance Drone Works, Unusual Machines, and Neros Technologies for possible funding.
The funding deals aim to support drone makers' production build-out and bring down prices, dovetailing with the Pentagon's Drone Dominance program to amass an arsenal of low-cost attack drones by 2027.
The US has the capacity to build up to 100,000 drones a year, but Ukraine built about 4 million last year, highlighting the need for increased production and lower costs.
The Pentagon-led deals would be the strongest signal yet from the US military that it is committed to supporting drone startups.
