Pentagon sends military personnel to Ukraine to study drone warfare

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has stated during Senate committee hearings that the Pentagon has sent its military personnel to Ukraine to learn how to deploy drones in real combat conditions.

During the hearings, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell described Ukraine as the Silicon Valley of warfare and asked Hegseth whether he supports Pentagon officials travelling there to gain experience.

Hegseth confirmed he does and said he has personally approved the deployment of additional personnel.

"I've personally approved additional personnel there to learn from that drone battlefield, both on offence and defence to ensure that we're learning every possible lesson from that conflict and incorporating it in real time into how we defend and we go on offence in an era where drone dominance is required," Hegseth said.

Hegseth stressed that the US must take the lessons learned in Ukraine and on other battlefields and apply them as quickly as possible in its own military.

US digital news outlet Axios reported earlier that last year, the US supposedly turned down a Ukrainian proposal to share technology for intercepting Iranian drones and has since realised it made a mistake.

On 12 May, media reports indicated that the governments of the US and Ukraine have prepared a draft memorandum outlining the terms of a possible new defence agreement between the countries relating to the drone sector.