The future of air power is self-regulated and the US is not in the lead, CEO of an aircraft developer warns
The low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones are positioned on the tarmac at the US Central Command operational area.
Source: US CENTCOM
The future of air power lies in independent platforms, and the United States, despite boasting the largest air force in the world, may not be leading the way.
This is according to Matt George, CEO of private aircraft developer Merlin Labs.
Speaking to CNBC’s Morgan Brennan on CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE event, George said small and medium-sized platforms are dominating the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
Autonomous platforms include unmanned drones used to reconnoitre or directly attack military targets with payloads. These drones are much cheaper and can be deployed faster than traditional weapons, prompting Western militaries to rethink their spending priorities.
“I think the US has found that … we’re not behind, but we don’t have the right track, and we need to invest in the back of those capabilities,” George said.
He added, “We know that drones are being used right now in the Iran conflict … [as] Ukraine also, which is, you know, the first war that was a drone-led war. ”
Kyiv used Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, and Russia has also used Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones to attack Ukraine, as well as its own Lancet drones.
In the Middle East, Iran also used Shahed drones as it retaliated against the Gulf states after the US and Israel attacked the country in February.
“We’ve … talked about all the things that are very high in the US, but … we’ve also seen big platforms that are manned by people who are really vulnerable. We’ve seen big planes being put in danger by enemies using cheap weapons and other forms of electronic warfare,” George said.
In June 2025, Ukrainian security forces launched a massive drone attack against Russian air assets using drones hidden in trucks, which reportedly damaged more than 40 aircraft.
Iran has also used drones to attack US aircraft in Saudi Arabia, hit aerial refueling tankers and early warning planes.
Cost differences
The cost difference of combining independent wind fields with expensive wind protection connectors will become more pronounced.
At the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies said: “Firing $4 million worth of missiles at $250,000 worth of Russian missiles may be justified if those missiles can hit the targets.
The PAC-3 interceptor missile used as part of the US-made Patriot air defense system costs about $4 million, CSIS said..
This division was also seen during the Iran war, when reports emerged that US stocks in the Gulf were at their lowest during the Iranian drone attack.
In an April 23 article for The Conversation, Aaron Brynildson, a law professor at the University of Mississippi, wrote that “Russia or Iran don’t need every drone to hit a target. They just need to keep sending waves of them until their adversaries run out of expensive missiles to shoot.”
George said he is now seeing a “real refocus” from the West to invest in autonomous technology. He pointed out that the US defense budget allocated 75 billion dollars for autonomous platforms and drones.
The Pentagon’s budget request for the Defense Autonomous Working Group, or DAWG, has reportedly increased to $54.6 billion from $225.9 million this year.
However, without a large budget, George believes that the US military needs to consider the speed of acquiring such platforms.
The Air Force needs to deliver these capabilities “in weeks and months and not years, which is traditionally how we do things,” he said.
