Army Prioritizes Counter-Drone Weapons With Unfunded List
WASHINGTON — With a deteriorating security situation in the Middle East made worse by sporadic if potentially deadly drone attacks on US installations, both the US Army’s and US Central Command’s wishlists for fiscal 2025 prominently feature requests for more money for systems to shoot down those aerial threats.
Earlier this month the White House requested $849.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Defense in fiscal 2025. As is law, though, the services and combatant commanders provide lawmakers with a list of areas and programs they could use additional dollars, known as the “unfunded priorities list.”
For its part, the Army said its proposed $186 billion budget request for next year could use some help to the tune of another $2.2 billion, according to documents provided to lawmakers and reviewed by Breaking Defense. Its top five unfunded priorities revolve around “force protection” with counter-unmanned aerial system (cUAS) platforms claiming the top three spots. The first two cUAS spots total $349 million but the Army’s list — marked with “controlled unclassified information” — does not detail to which systems those dollars would be directed.