The US should have troops working with the Ukrainians to learn the skills for drones. It is better to learn and bring the skills home.

They put a DUI hire on charge.

Treason that's how

Because it’s being led by a drunken idiot without clue

USA is being run by a dumbass, and even dumber dumbasses who kiss his dumbass! USA is committing suicide! The Romans were rumored to have opened the gates to the Visigoths, so full of self-loathing for their own largesse they were! USA Empire is the same! Done! Rotten from within! Hope I'm wrong!

... at some point Russia will end the war on Ukraine, and then Iran's drone factories will go after other enemies in the Middle East, to wit, Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, ... well, everyone but Iran... ...Unless Iranians can finally overthrow the government most of them hate.

Really bizarre thing is we were IN Afghanistan. We saw how the most sophisticated weapons could be attacked by cheap pickups laden with bombs. We SAW Ukraine. We watched Iran use drones and ballistic missiles on residential apartments in Israel, too... do they not read newspapers?

Trump is working on Howitzers

Those are of a different variety and directly coming out of his rectum.

🤣

Sophisticated is a word that does not go with USA

Theft in government

Simple there’s a drunk in charge

Drones work best when not operated by drunks.

This started a lot before Hegseth. It's because of military contractors lobbying the govt to keep doing what they've been doing. Which is not drones. New tech doesn't have the lobby power of old tech.

Absolutely, it's just that Hegseth is entirely, shambolically hopeless as a candidate to rein in 'waste, fraud, abuse' and -- much more importantly, poor strategic thinking.

Just watched Netflix's "American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden." Excellent work in a very difficult scenario. As I watched I kept wondering how things would have gone if the CIA and military were under Pete "Signalgate" Hegseth and John Ratcliffe's leadership?

Because we have concentration camps and secret police.

Ignorance, arrogance, non-intellectuals in charge, drunks, rapists, liars…..shall I go on?

😂😂😂

How did they fall behind? Look who is leading them then ask.

I’m gonna say arrogance ⁉️

Ummmm...have you seen who's in charge?!?!

Are you advocating for more drone strikes? Like what is this headline?

And Don Jr. has invested in one of the American companies making drones. And guess which company is going to be getting all the government contracts?

Because many people in US government are tech illiterate and don’t read. They are afraid of things that are small and mobile. They like things that are big and make lots of noise

Having a bozo leading the Pentagon is certainly one way to fall behind.

Because people holding those important positions don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. The poorly educated are in charge of our fucking country. Remember, Trump said he loved the poorly educated.

And what we're dealing with is why. This is by design.

The American military has always been more prepared to fight the last war than the next one.

War (justified and on your own country’s soil) incites innovation. Every militarized country is behind Ukraine’s innovation for defense and offense. We saw rapid innovation during WWII when Germans were at our doorstep. Then Pearl Harbor of course. I hope Ukraine charges LOTS for their innovations.

The US started falling behind the rest of the world in the 1860s.

That's what happens when stupidity is in charge!

GREED in the politics and the manufacturing bodies. GREED pure and simple.

Wait until they scam the government and buy their drones from a small company in Florida. Eric Dump is on the board.

With Hegseth at the helm there's no chance of catching up! Just like the rest of the administration he's incompetent with little scientific vision.

Because the government is stuck in the 1950s.

drone manufacturers didnt grease the right palms

My thought too. Or the technology is too simple to really gouge the taxpayer

I hear the war fighters are picking up litter in DC

Trump

How? Our country has spent everything on oligarch mansions, yachts, cars,etc., instead of infrastructure.

But they have a drunk propagandist for a leader. How could anything be going wrong?

🎭

By design - the oligarchs want the United States to fall by the wayside just like Spain, Britain and other former major world powers have. They want Russia, China & India to be the world's only super powers because they're easily controlled by corruption - even easier than America's politicians.

This is why US needs allies like Ukraine. Such a powerful dictator like Russia's Putin thought invading their territory would be a piece of cake & yet can not defeat. It's Ukraine technical innovations of what US have used as hobby gadgets or toys that've made drones the stars of modern warfare.

Fox weekend host is already decades behind.

Many "modern" militaries are behind on this. New asymmetric conflicts have forced development of new strategies. There are suvellience drones, armed drones, but they are relatively expensive. Necessity drove the development of relatively CHEAP drones that can be deployed en-masse.

Way behind. Plus the US lacks critical capacity to catch up as fast as they normally would.

We’re not sophisticated if it’s being led by Hegseth

The pentagon leader has a nazi tattoo!! I mean what it going on in the US media. Jesum Christmas!

It's lead by a bro dipshit

One reason: PedoPOTUS and Kegbreth both thinking they know more than anyone else.

We have a worthless alcoholic in charge.

The last 4 years was when they fell behind and now Pete has to clean up the soiled mess they made.

By wasting taxpayer dollars on things that never worked like THIS. www.19fortyfive.com/2025/01/the-...

Just note that site is paid for by the mil ind complex, its marking bullshit and full on rara

I spent 5 years in thr Army and 2 in Iraq. Every soldier I served with got tinnitus, IBS, and are at risk for silicosis because big army cut quality equipment and replaced them with junk to pad the pockets of KBR. Fuck big army. They don't mean a damn to me. OPSEC protects everyone but the victims.

How about idiocy? It’s quite prevalent in the US at the moment. It’s almost an epidemic.

We don’t have immediate need. We don’t have hostile neighbors on this continent and are isolated by thousands of miles of ocean. When We project power overseas it’s with carriers and jet fighters. That might change but don’t get distracted. Spend a trillion on lasers. Lasers end war for good.

Lasers end modern warfare as You know it. Spend a trillion on those.

Offer a trillion to whoever can perfect it.

True, but virtually ALL militaries are in the same situation.

Simple fact, we got lazy, didn't think they could be made to do so much damage. We need to ask Zelenskyy to help us out, shouldn't be a problem since Trump did so much to help him out.😘😆

Zelensky’s “Peaky Blinders” patrol 🇺🇦

Well in the next 20 years as American youth get less educated from crappy Christian schools we will only fall farther behind in technology! Trump fired all our scientists and doctors sending them to Canada and other countries. He wanted to push America back a century before women had rights Great 👍

Interceptor drones made in Ukraine cost about $5k each and are being churned out in large numbers. Long-range strategic strike drones and naval attack drones cost roughly $300k each. In the US, you can add many zeroes to those prices and wait 10 years for delivery.

Arrogance.

Yeah, how did we fall so far behind in drone warfare? Yep, that’s a real fucking head scratcher, Politico.

dude came into office this year. or am i missing something

And do you not understand how drastically the fundamental nature of warfare has changed, just in the last 12 months? The Ukrainians are literally creating an entirely new world in terms of modern warfare, what to expect, what to prepare for, and what to do yourself.

Innovation moves fast in wartime, and if all you do is circle-jerk about what a tough badass warfighter you are, you’re going to miss out on actual developments in tactics and technology, and eventually be left in the dust.

- Hegseth came to office less than 9 months ago - This is not an American war so its not like we're meant to be sending drone there in the first place. - Ukraine, the US ally has a more capable drone defense system than Russia. so i don't really understand your point nor who you're arguing with

Yeah, the part where he’s a black out alcoholic and Trump’s little bitch. That part.

In fairness, the problem didn't start in January. But it appears to have fallen off the table since.

Yeah I was surprised also when it started to happen 🤨

Let's be fair, he's been drinking as DOJ Secretary for half a year. It probably takes longer than that to build a drone warrior infrastructure that can also mix a drink.

The question is, what are we doing about it? Maybe we'll start importing drones from Ukraine

Drones are woke!

Not the time to expect innovations.

Maga christians are primitive thinkers, science is out, 2000 year old stories are in and rule our government. The USA is under attack and will soon be like the bible belt states, living lies.

Perhaps because we have idiots & morons running the DOD, that are still fighting yesterdays wars!

#trump and #republicans are to blame

Behind? No… really?!? I’m sure Hegseth fired all the people who were working on them too, because they weren’t Christian nationalist ‘warriors’. In drone warfare, the last 3 years in Ukraine has been like the Spanish Civil War before WWII: new weapons and tactics being tested and perfected.

I doubt that Hegseth could get a boy scout troop through a successful wilderness weekend much less the entire armed forces through anything.

That's why they still have musk and his drones in their back pocket. All the ufo sightings lately? Musk surveillance drones.

How? Donold

Call UKRAINE dumb ass..they seem to have figured it out..but we have addict... in charge right.

Drones cannot get white power tattoos or do pull-ups on TV.

I know the answer!!!! TRUMP.

Behind? They were using remote control drones since the 20s

There was once a guy named Dwight Eisenhower who mentioned the danger of the military/industrial complex. Drones apparently aren’t as profitable as planes, tanks, submarines, or aircraft carriers.

It’s hard to pour trillions into a drone program.

Because the Fox host is really good at guarding enemy combatants he didn't capture. Got him a medal for it. Makes a lot of noise about "warfighting" but sees nothing wrong with having National Guard troops pick up trash.

Could it be the billions we blew at Boeing for a super jet?

In word? Conservatives.

Welp...when you have a drunk incharge

It occurs to me appointing someone incapable of running DoD might have somewhat to do with it. At the very least we're not going to get caught up any time soon unless of course name changes produces more modern weaponry. 🙄

How bout you focus on you know, not letting journalists in group chats that have operational details? You know, get the basics right before attempting to get decent drone tech. Its also just wild you spend nearly a trillion on the defence industrial complex and still have these articles.

Have another drink, drunken Kegseth🤬

They’re WAR FIGHTERS! They don’t need drones! /s

Hate has taken over the American military. Generals are so detached from reality and actual events.

Didn’t read but I’m guessing the dipshit in the photo has a lot to do with the it.

Capitalism turning the military into a money pit. It makes the ghouls who run it more money to treat soldiers like crap to feed into the wood chipper and keep the tech flawed for deniability reasons.

Poor leadership?

Maybe being led by a raging alcoholic isn’t the best plan 🤷‍♀️

Because we have a weekend tv host in charge, who cares more about publicity for his deranged church and personal loyalty, than innovation.

Should ask Ukraine for advice! Maybe not like the answer!

Too busy working out how to antagonize Trump's political enemies and estrange our global allies, I guess.

Have you seen who’s in charge right now? Seriously?

Put a drunk in charge who thinks racist tattoos are his power weapons?

The Ukraine Military has redefined the way wars will be fought and enemies of the state eliminated !!!!!

PolitiCON is 🚮

With Pete at the rudder, I doubt if they will be successful...

Well the military now is run by a meritless MAGA alcoholic, wife beater, rapist, and drunk who hates America so maybe that’s part of the problem?

And his boss is a 34 count FELON and women abuser, serial cheater. What's happening to this country. We are being taken over by these people and the GOP Congress is out to lunch. They need to step up & do their JOBS & try to save what we can salvage.

Kickbacks and cronyism.

There is another video in this series that I keep sharing, but this one just came out & I’m telling you - I know how they are targeting the journalists so accurately now in Palestine. I watched this the night before the hospital bombing which just intensified my feelings. youtu.be/K9cz0N1HDRY?...

I’m including this one because it was so well done. I knew the MIC was bad. I was naive to how bad - on both sides! When I see how the CA senators and others voted to keep funding Israel even w/dem polls, I know exactly who is beholden to MIC and/or AIPAC now. youtu.be/cVYTb85_dZw?...

They don’t want peace, and will never allow it to happen as long as we keep putting bought-off people in power. They need to be ousted. They will never prioritize their constituents. Ever. Rant over.

Follow the money. Didn’t line the pockets of the big contractors. And they are firmly entrenched in designing what the military says it wants. After they get specs to meet. Not in imagining things that the military might want. Should probably want. As is traditional, planning to win the last war.

The answer is the thumbnail you're welcome @politico.com

I'm sure Unusual Machines will sort it all out for us. *sigh*

That's an easy one, we have a complete and utter fool in charge of the department of defense.

Day late and a dollar short.

And Hegseth is a highproteinword-salad idiot whose idea of 'warfighting' is huffing his middle-aged way through chin ups. Really, seriously, the Trump Pentagon is going to get a lot of Americans killed just through 'the stupid.' 1/

Which is why National Guard's performative obedience (picking up trash in DC) is a significant hint of a restive military. 2/

Because DUI hire wife-beats who Snapchat & Signal all day don’t really know anything about tech. That’s why. Now if a drone could prep him sober in his dressing room🤔

Drones will be the gateway to tech bro military industrial complex take over.

a) drones are an evil technology and should be eliminated b) the Pentagon, and US military broadly, is not behind shit! They always run these articles to ensure the defense industry can keep suckling at the teat of military spending

HEGSETH...

Well, we have an incompetent drunk as SecDef and an addled imbecile as CinC. That would be how.

one very simple answer IS ... petey hegseth or in the post-popular vernacular ... petey hedgehog ... working for Amerika's orange adolf pedofuhrer trumpt ... a daily variety shitshow and traveling political circus ... 🤨

Because it’s run by amateurs

Because the USA has idiots from the deplorable fascist treasonous gop running the USA Government.

Pete is dumping our money into planes and tanks that are very advanced, but a drone costing 0.0001% of the cost can take these tools out. Instead of using we the peoples money on outdated technology, we should be looking at where warfare is now and where is going? Pete is a FAILURE at every level.

small wonder when the king of incompetence is in charge from a barstool

so is that tie

A clown is at the head.

Who gives a shit

open.substack.com/pub/malcolmn...

Wouldn't it be comical if the drones seen near Jersey, NY & in Utah were actually China & Russia testing how stupid we are? China even launched a big surveillance balloon to see how far it could get. It got far. And the drones? We were lied about those too. Airplanes my... We'll never learn.

All part of the grand defense strategy!

The US is in the stone ages when it comes to drones. The Chinese have constant drone shows. The US tried and had collisions and debris fell and killed people. If China ever decided, they could launch thousands of drones from ship containers as they approach US shores.

Even Canada is manufacturing drones, which will be shipped to Ukraine.

Only reason they're picking up the pace with drones now is to start using them against the dissenters in the U.S. Watch, they'll be deploying them here under the same guise they have military patrolling U.S. cities. TO CONTROL THE POPULATION! 🤬🤬🤬

Maybe because America isn't actually at war. Also as Trump had the GOP delay aid etc to Ukraine it forced Ukraine to adapt, use more drones and develop them on their own. Country's make more advancements whilst at war. Refer WW2 and how America quickly adapted and improved tanks etc

When you look at what America did best in WWII, it's almost all Chrysler behind it - Bofors guns, radar, and tanks being three of those (nuclear bombs, too). They didn't need to understand how it worked to make it better.

I think America developed some fantastic warplanes for the time. Built them to try and improve the chances of Aur crews surviving etc. Those bombers they sent into Germany often took a hell of a beating and made it back.

The Japanese zeros were said to be better than US Tomcats as far as speed etc yet they provided no real proctiob for Pilots. The Use put thicker steal plates in pilots seats etc. I've heard stories of US Navy pilots returning to find bullets lodged in their seats. Japan's the bullets cut through.

I think Politico would retort that if we're not at war then we should start one

We sure turned out that new extended range glide bomb pretty fast... There's not a lot we can't achieve with sufficient funding and will.

$EPUBLIKANS.

It's also shitting on Ukraine that excels in drone warfare

Because they are led by non-serious clowns like Pete Hegseth.

And under this administration it’s just going to get more behind

We're behind because there's limited market drivers and regulations have held back hobbyists from innovating potential dual use technologies for decades... while all the magnets come from China and lobbyists have made sure only the least competent are authorized to innovate.

Let me guess, they put incompetent imbeciles in charge who only approve things that they personally profit from.

Idiocracy in charge.

Maybe Ukraine can provide some education and direction??

Maybe stop hiring Fox News personnel and stop harassing federal employees.

Gee a bit over there was a Fox News host who seemed to have all the answers of how to improve the Pentagon. We should get him and put him in charge. He sounded like he would be a great leader.

Putting hegseth in was another "stroke of genius'. Pete is SUCH a Winner!

Is this a rhetorical question? politicalamericans.com/pete-hegseth...

Would be up to speed if they sided with Ukraine. Ukraine is defining modern ground warfare and the US is missing out due to Trump’s personally motivated politics

Lobbyists

The old soak Hegseth is still looking for a Dr ones that’s why.😂😂😂😂😂 Hic.

Good, use them to stop mass shooters.

The answer is in the accompanying photograph.

Isn’t Palantir the DoD contractor

Look who they're run by

because “no one at a senior level wanted to spend the money to buy them” and officials in the Pentagon’s “hidebound and unresponsive bureaucratic structure … were wed to their old plans, programs and thinking.”

Too busy doing PT with the troops.

Not big enough. Our military contractors for big ticket items so they can continue to suck the country’s lifeblood.

@politico.com why are there banners in cities with the Dictators face on it? Hello….????? Anyone home ?????

And the reason why is...

Too much emphasis on bells and whistles in the military industrial complex defense sector..and greed and grift..

you put it in far less words than me

Hey now, you expect a Fascist oligarchy to be ahead in tech? Nah, they're too busy devolving out society into cave people who hate brown people.

Trump! He is a fucking backasswards retro musket loving dumbass!

I don't think it's drunk Pete who is the problem. Ukraine is in a war for survival. They need results now. They refine drones and make them cheaply. The US doesn't have this problem. When the US buys drones they can be fancy and expensive and take years to be available. Ukraine can't risk that.

"The Pentagon is behind." I can't imagine why. Maybe it's because it's being led by a behind.

Behind what or whom? We already spend the most money on the military of any country on earth. I doubt we can behind on anything in this regard.

How? It’s being run by absolute dumbfucks.

That’s because drones aren’t very attractive on TV.

How does it feel to know that Trump is getting everything he wants, wealth, power, domination over his enemies, and all at the expense of the constitution and the republic, and no one can do a single thing to stop him?

How did the US military fall behind? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I wonder.

The Pentagon didn't 'fall behind' Ukraine jumped ahead !

Obviously it’s because modern warfare does not rely so much on the traditional military-industrial complex, and they are a powerful lobby with much to lose if their federal Defense contracts end.

The same way they fell behind in cyberwarfare, for an eternity the American approach has been, bigger is better, bigger tanks, planes ships etc. But now smaller is the most sophisticated and dangerous, that baffles and forces US to play catch-up

There's a one word answer to this question...republicants.

Sorry but, with the largest military budget in the world, when is the last time the U.S. actually had a victory? Falling behind? We've been falling behind since 1945

When you're fleecing a country, you don't give a damn about anything else.

Jesus, they have enough of a budget and they are behind?

Americans like the thrill of the kill all for themselves. Subcontracting it to a drone, even one with a camera, will simply not satisfy their basest urges.

Because we have an administration that wants to refight the Civil War with 1860s equipment.

Drones? How about a Defense Secretary that doesn't spill the beans with his private phone?

Ask Trump and hegseth. We are working full time to get back to the 1930’s.

Amorica behind in everything. Day by day becoming bigger joke.

DTs?

Do people even know who is manufacturing the vast majority of the drones being used ON BOTH SIDES of the Russia/Ukraine conflict? Hint: It isn't either the United States nor Europe nor Russia.

I guess if they didn't hang out with Tipsy McStaggers they mightve got shit done 🤷

Lot more room for bribes in a billion dollar aircraft

This is the right answer

Of course!

We're behind? Gee, what a shock. That's because the entire administration is operating in the 1670's

Republicans… the answer is always Republicans because they want to chain America to obsolete technologies

America voted in Trump. That's why. Are you so fucking dumb @politico.com that you need to write an entire article about it? Oh right no one reads you anymore

We were too busy figuring out how to use drones to deliver Amazon packages and Domino’s pizzas.

Hint: If you can deliver a pizza or package, you can deliver bombs......

I don't know if we want to create a market for UberBombs tbh

Ideally not. But my point is the tech is “transferable” as are the skills of the people who pilot them.

Let's be honest, leadership can't manage a group chat let alone a drone. Let them sort that out first.

Which leadership (country) are you talking about?

The American ones. You know, the crew that invited a journalist to a signal group chat with operational intel

Those aren’t the guys who will be flying the drones. They train regular soldiers to do that.

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Because the whole dump regime is made up of butt kissers, that really have no idea how to do their jobs.

Well the country is now a reality show and they fired anyone who knew how to do anything and this is all just cosplay, now why aren’t yall dead yet??

Whadya mean? They're on top of it - literally. They have a drone leading them and another as their C-in-C.

But Israel is in the lead because they’ve been testing their drones by killing starving children.

See the Dems for that... Biden and obama

Because our strategy is the fleece the taxpayer

Everything Donald Trump does and oversees is designed to weaken our country. That benefits one other country: Russia.

Well it’s probably because the defense budget was backed by politicians who got their campaign funds from defense contractors not from the drone companies. So buy more bombs, planes and guns. Why is the defense budget raised every year?

No lie detected. DOD is reversing itself on everything that creates a modern fighting force: Pushing out LGBTQ members, eliminating women in senior roles, cutting renewable energy and research, eliminating DOD dept that funds new, cutting edge tech. Solution: Release the Epstein Files.

The profit margin for drones is so much lower. You can’t put a $600 toilet seat in a drone.

Easy: Too much money. If you don't have to worry about your budget, you're going to go for more expensive, prettier options. If you've gotta watch the pennies, you'll learn to do a lot more with less.