Drone warfare is “reshaping the battlefield”
On April 22, U.S. military focused news site DefenseScoop announced the DOD’s plan for the “largest-ever investment in drones and anti-drone weapons” to the tune of $70 billion. From the site:
Drone warfare is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield… Manned-unmanned teaming is the future of combat, and this budget makes it a reality.
If you look at what’s going on in Ukraine and their ability to have drone-on-drone type warfare — and the ability to do so at cost and scale — it’s really something that we need to figure out how to take advantage of to protect our force.
Our April 2012 issue of The Socionomist foresaw this very “future of combat” and wrote:
As animosity rises and military budgets fall, expect even more belligerence-on-the-cheap… drone attacks and anti-satellite attacks should all increase.
All told, two thirds of worldwide investment in unmanned planes in 2010 will be spent by countries other than the United States
The U.S. is catching up. To learn more about why, our July 2025 Socionomist cover story “Cheap Weapons: Negative Mood and the Changing Nature of Warfare” approaches the surge in “cheap but efficient technologies” from an angle you won’t find anywhere else.
Even better, imagine if you’d put a few dollars into companies likely to benefit from increased acceptance of drone technology back in 2012 – new players like AeroVironment (AVAV) or Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS), or major names like Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NOC). Northrop was $60 a share back in April 2012. It traded at $750/share last month.
Read that cover story today, along with the entire July 2025 Socionomist, for just $30.