As drones change warfare, Pentagon is taking ‘Amazon’s help’ to solve an ‘old problem’

Amazon is helping the US Army and its allies build an online marketplace that will make procuring drones easier. The e-commerce giant’s cloud unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS), has played a key role in building an online storefront designed to speed up soldiers’ access to the technology reshaping modern warfare, a report claims. The US Army recently unveiled the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Marketplace, developed in collaboration with AWS and the Army Enterprise Cloud Management Agency.This online marketplace will allow US Army units, government partners, and allied nations to procure vetted UAS or drone systems through a single storefront, with features to compare devices, place orders, and provide feedback, a Fortune report notes. The US Army has positioned the digital storefront as a departure from traditional weapons acquisition practices, arguing that its transparency and competitiveness will broaden the industrial base and bring a wider range of drone capabilities within the reach of its soldiers and allies.

What US Army said about Amazon-powered online marketplace for drones

In a statement to Fortune, US Army acquisition chief Brent Ingraham said, “By lowering barriers to entry and partnering with a wider range of industrial innovators, we are building a more resilient and responsive defense industrial base, which is essential for equipping our force and deterring our adversaries.”While announcing the online marketplace for drones, Colonel Danielle Medaglia, the US Army’s project manager for UAS, said, “By fostering competition and innovation, we are ensuring that soldiers have access to the most advanced technologies to meet their mission requirements. This strategy is about delivering capability at scale and at speed.”The Pentagon’s weapons procurement process has reportedly been criticised for being slow and costly for a long time. For decades, successive administrations have struggled to reform a system dominated by a small number of large defence contractors.Layers of bureaucracy at the Department of War must weigh new war-fighting requirements, evaluate candidates to meet them, and determine how to allocate funding. The US Congress also holds final authority over budgets, often directing money toward weapons and projects that benefit specific districts.