President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 defense request puts drones at the center of the Pentagon’s next spending cycle, with senior defense officials outlining $53.6 billion for autonomous drone platforms and warzone logistics and roughly $54 billion for the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, up from about $225 million previously.
This turned one of the Pentagon’s smallest autonomy offices into one of its largest growth lines almost overnight.
Reuters reported the administration’s $1.5 trillion total is split between a $1.15 trillion base request and a $350 billion supplemental reconciliation package. The same package includes more than $65 billion for shipbuilding, $102 billion for aircraft procurement and R&D, a 7% pay raise for junior enlisted troops, and force expansion of 44,000 service members.
The drone allocation is not being framed as basic research. Pentagon officials told Reuters the bulk of the funding is aimed at applying technology that already exists today, and that the DAWG has effectively absorbed the earlier Replicator initiative. Reuters previously reported Replicator was designed to field thousands of inexpensive autonomous systems on roughly $500 million a year, underscoring how much larger this new request is than prior Pentagon drone acceleration efforts.
That surge arrives as Trump’s two oldest sons have moved deeper into the same sector. In March, Reuters reported Aureus Greenway Holdings, a company backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., agreed to merge with drone technology firm Powerus. The firm makes heavy-lift drones carrying payloads up to 675 kilograms and also converts manned boats into remotely operated or autonomous vessels.
In addition, Eric Trump invested in a $1.5 billion merger involving Israeli drone maker XTEND and JFB Construction Holdings in February, while Unusual Machines, where Donald Trump Jr. became an adviser in November 2024, was also investing in that deal.
Associated Press reporting said Powerus hopes to win some of the $1.1 billion the Pentagon has set aside to build a US manufacturing base for armed drones after the administration banned imports from China, and quoted ethics expert Kathleen Clark calling the arrangement “corruption.”
Powerus, for its part, denied any conflict, with co-founder Brett Velicovich saying the company’s focus “has nothing to do with politics,” while Eric Trump said, “Drones are clearly the wave of the future.”
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