Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate panel he has sent Pentagon personnel to Ukraine and approved additional deployments to observe drone combat.
- Hegseth said the teams are studying both offensive and defensive drone use so the U.S. can apply lessons immediately to how it fights and protects forces.
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Ukraine the “Silicon Valley of warfare” and pressed whether officials should go there to gain first-hand experience, which Hegseth endorsed.
- Media reports this week described a draft U.S.–Ukraine memorandum that would outline terms for possible cooperation focused on the drone sector, though it has not been announced as final.
- Axios previously reported the U.S. declined a Ukrainian offer last year to share tech to intercept Iranian drones and later judged that call a mistake, pointing to a shift toward deeper drone cooperation.