(FOX NEWS) — The Pentagon is seeking roughly $55 billion for drone and autonomous warfare programs in its fiscal year 2027 budget, as battlefield conflicts from the Middle East to Ukraine expose a growing problem: cheap drones are increasingly able to overwhelm costly U.S. defenses. The funding re quest, a dramatic surge from roughly $225 million a year earlier, signals a major shift in how the U.S. military plans to fight future wars, accelerating a move toward large numbers of lower-cost, AI-enabled systems. The funding, tied to a little-known Pentagon office known as the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, represents a broad category spanning multiple programs across the services — including procurement, research, training and sustainment — rather than a single standalone weapons system. War Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to face questions on the budget when he testifies before Congress Thursday, as lawmakers begin weighing what would be the largest Pentagon request in modern history. The administration is seeking roughly $1.5 trillion in national defense spending for fiscal year 2027 — a more than 40% increase from the prior year and the biggest single-year jump in decades — with major investments in drones, missile defense and next-generation warfare systems at the center of the request. At the center of the shift is a change in doctrine: moving away from a force built around a small number of high-cost platforms toward one designed to deploy large numbers of cheaper systems capable of operating in coordinated groups, often referred to as drone swarms. In recent confrontations in the Middle East, Iranian drone and missile attacks have forced U.S. and allied defenses to respond to waves of low-cost aerial threats, exposing what defense officials describe as a growing “math problem” — firing expensive interceptors at far cheaper drones. In one recent engagement, Gulf air defenses tracked dozens of incoming drones alongside ballistic missiles, intercepting many but underscoring how clustered attacks can strain even advanced systems. The post Pentagon Request Jumps From $225M To $55B For Drones As Cheap Attacks Overwhelm US Defenses appeared first on WOWO News/Talk 92.3 FM and 1190 AM. ...read more read less