The Pentagon is being accused of cutting corners on explosive safety as the military races to weaponize cheap drones for the battlefield.
A newly surfaced Army memo claims the Defense Department’s push to rapidly scale low-cost combat drones is causing “basic explosive safety principles” to be ignored, according to CBS News.
The memo was written by an explosive safety specialist after a mini-drone exploded during troubleshooting exercises involving Army Special Forces soldiers.
The blast injured a soldier with “minor lacerations (arm and face) and concussion” after the explosive detonated while being disconnected from the drone, according to the memo.
The Army safety specialist said the explosion may have been triggered by static electricity or stray electrical currents caused by a poorly secured relay switch inside the drone.
The warning lands as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth aggressively expands the Trump administration’s billion-dollar drone buildup program, which aims to flood the military with hundreds of thousands of attack drones.
In a July memo, Hegseth signaled the Pentagon planned to bulldoze regulations he believed were slowing military drone deployment.
“I am rescinding restrictive policies that hindered production and limited access to these vital technologies, unleashing the combined potential of American manufacturing and warfighter ingenuity,” Hegseth wrote.
“The Department’s bureaucratic gloves are coming off.”
Months later, the Pentagon announced plans to help produce roughly 340,000 drones over two years as part of its “drone dominance” initiative.
“We will deliver tens of thousands of small drones to our force in 2026, and hundreds of thousands of them by 2027,” Hegseth declared.
“We need to outfit our combat units with unmanned systems at scale. We cannot wait.”
But the Army memo suggests the Pentagon’s sprint toward mass drone deployment may already be creating safety risks behind the scenes.
“We fully understand [Special Forces’] ability to innovate/create tactical solutions to accomplish a mission set/task,” the memo stated.
“However, I also believe [the Department of War] is in such a rush to solve future and enduring threats related to [Unmanned Aerial Systems], basic explosive safety principles are being ignored and will ultimately lead to a greater risk associated with mishaps/accidents.”
The safety specialist warned the Pentagon’s rush to counter modern drone threats risked ignoring “basic explosive safety principles” and could lead to more accidents.
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
