WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), questioned General Kenneth Wilsbach, nominee to serve as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, on the importance of prioritizing America’s drone warfare capabilities, as well as supporting technologies such as 3-D printing to drive down production costs. During the exchange, Senator King highlighted Ukraine’s extensive use of drones for aerial reconnaissance and attacks and noted that the United States military should be investing similarly in the unmanned warfighting technology. General Wilsbach agreed with Senator King’s assessment, calling it a useful military tactic.

“A question about drones: to me it underlines the cumbersomeness of our military procurement system….Ukraine is now producing 200,000 drones a month at an average price of $500. We don't have remotely that capacity here. And I believe we are missing, I think, the major lesson of Ukraine, which is the importance of drone warfare. I would hope that this might be, again, a place of new emphasis. Not only defensive, which you have mentioned, but also offensive. I find it astounding what the Ukrainians have been able to do. Think of that, 200,000 drones produced a month, average cost $500. We've got to have a major initiative in this area, in my view. Do you agree,” asked Senator King.

General Wilsbach replied, “I do, senator. And we have come to the same lessons learned that you have, that this is a tactic that would be useful for us, and it creates massive dilemmas for your adversary, because they have to honor those 200,000 a month. They don't know what they are up to. They might have a weapon on them, there might be a decoy, but they have to honor them, and you end up overwhelming their defenses, and then you eventually get one to the target and you achieve objectives. We’re learning that lesson, and by the way, 3D printing — you can 3-D print one-way attack drones at scale. So, we should invest in that, I believe.”

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator King is recognized as an authoritative voice on national security and foreign policy issues. Senator King has previously spoken up about the emerging threats of Russia and China’s development of “nightmare weapon” hypersonic missiles. He previously urged the Department of Defense (DoD) to take advantage of private sector technologies or risk losing access to innovative defense technologies and encouraged the (DoD) to reevaluate its acquisition process of defense technologies. Senator King has also been a strong advocate for the use of 3-D printing. He previously supported a $2.8 million congressionally-directed spending award to UMaine for 3-D print wind turbine blades, as well as the use of the 3D printer to create two logistics vessels for the U.S. Department of Defense.

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