Why America wants to be the leader in drones, fast While much of the oxygen in Big Tech rooms is being used to talk about the future of AI, another important tech has come to the forefront of a literal arms race: drones. The stakes could not be higher. The Russia-Ukraine war has elevated the humble quadcopter-style drone to a crucial weapon for fighting modern wars. Strategies for defeating swarms of Chinese drones are the subject of war games run by military commanders in the US and Taiwan. Recent tests of how American forces could both use low-cost portable drones in warfare and defend against them did not bode well. All of this is why the Trump administration wants to “unleash American drone dominance,” but that might be harder than making iPhones in America. If you look at a drone sitting next to an iPhone, they may seem like they don’t have much in common. But under the hood, the two devices are close relatives with common technological DNA. Our Venn diagram shows how many components the two items share. No matter how many carbon-fiber drone frames and propeller blades you make in the US, an American drone will still need to get many of its key components from abroad. China dominates the supply chain for most drone components, making local sourcing extremely difficult. That said, several US drone makers are stepping up to challenge Chinese industry leader DJI, which has commanded the space for a decade https://sherwood.news/tec.. #Robotics Revolution 🦾🤖🦿 #ScholER #The Most Important Thing