The United States on Wednesday announced the creation of a new role to manage Pentagon’s Unmanned systems efforts. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegers formalized the new role in a memo.
According to the memothe official title of the “Drone Czar” will be Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager (DRPM-UxS), which will give the position the ability to make autonomous decisions. The individual holding this position will report to Under Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg and will be the sole joint integrator for all unmanned and autonomous systems programs,” the memo states.
The new “drone czar” will not only manage the drone program, but also all unmanned systems on the ground, at sea and in the air. Its responsibilities include directing “all activities related to the development, acquisition, deployment, sustainment and operation of unmanned and autonomous systems in all domains,” the memo said.
The memo also provides a list of categories of unmanned systems under the DRPM-UxS authority, noting that “the Sec War or Deputy Sec War may add or remove systems from the DRPM at their sole discretion.”
“Adversaries collectively produce millions of unmanned systems every year across all domains,” Heggs wrote in the memo, explaining why the logistics of unmanned systems are changing significantly.
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“Although the global army Production of unmanned systems has surged over the past three years, but the United States has been slow to field these capabilities at scale,” he continued. “Drones and autonomous systems are the most important battlefield innovations of this generation. The Department of Defense must act at the speed of current requirements. “
The fine print in the memorandum also clarifies that the new DRPM will handle the procurement of new unmanned systems through the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which will serve as the link between DRPM-UxS and the Department of War.
Heggs sets clear deadline
Hegseth’s memo also laid out a series of deadlines for new DRPM-UxS officials following their appointment. Within 30 days, DRPM-UxS must begin recruiting personnel to perform critical functions required to rapidly execute the unmanned systems portfolio, including management, planning, legislative affairs, and more.
Within 60 days, the official must provide Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg with an organizational structure that clearly defines the scope of the responsibilities. The memo sets two milestones within 90 days. At that point, DRPM-UxS must define the baseline of the unmanned systems portfolio by identifying all existing services and component initiatives. Finally, DRPM-UxS must develop a major implementation action plan within 120 days.
