Marine Corps wants 10,000 new drones this year as it looks to expand training for off-the-shelf systems

The Marine Corps is gearing up to expand its first-person view drone capabilities in the New Year by purchasing 10,000 new platforms and increasing the number of troops who are trained on them, according to government contracting documents and service officials. Earlier this week, the Corps announced a standardized training program for small-sized unmanned aerial systems, which include several courses for attack drone operators, payload specialists and instructors. Several units, from III Marine Expeditionary Force in the Pacific to Marine Forces Special Operations Command are now authorized to immediately start these courses. Meanwhile, the service is also asking industry to make thousands of UAS for under $4,000 per unit, according to a request for information posted in December. The intent is for Marines to be able to modify these drones with “simple” third-party munitions and repair them on their own. The RFI also inquired about autonomy and machine learning integration for these systems. Over the next several months, the service will aim to certify hundreds of Marines to use FPV drones, according to the Pentagon, with the goal of having every infantry, reconnaissance and littoral combat team across the fleet equipped with these platforms by May. Officials said that these courses were shaped by recent certifications and the Drone Training Symposium in November, an event intended to solidify and scale training across the fleet. DefenseScoop also reported last week that the Marine Corps had certified forward-deployed Marines on FPV drones for the first time in November. More than two dozen troops with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed to the Caribbean trained for more than a month-and-a-half to qualify on various FPV drone capabilities, a significant milestone for the force after a year of navigating untrodden ground.

The Army recently established an artificial intelligence career field that select officers can transfer into starting next month, DefenseScoop has learned. It is also considering the potential for warrant officers to join the new role. The service created the 49B “area of concentration” for AI and Machine Learning on Oct. 31, according to Maj. Travis Shaw, a spokesperson for the Army. Between Jan. 5 and Feb. 6, 2026. Army officers who already have a few years of service or more can apply for the role through the Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program (VTIP), which is meant to support the Army’s manning needs. It was unclear how many officers the Army hopes to transfer into the job, but those selected will reclassify by Oct. 1, 2026, Shaw said. The service expects those personnel to have completed their transition into the AI field by the following year. The effort comes as the Department of Defense continues to boost the use of large language model AI systems for military purposes. Earlier this month, the Pentagon launched GenAI.mil, a hub for commercial AI tools — one that DefenseScoop reported military personnel were meeting with mixed reviews and a bevy of questions about how to use it in their daily operations. The Army has also been embracing LLMs and AI, including through its Army Artificial Integration Center (AI2C), which was established in 2018 to integrate those systems into the service.

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