On the AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2026 convention this week, Crimson Cat Holdings government Brendan Stewart delivered one of many extra traditionally grounded and economically detailed discussions of the occasion, arguing that rebuilding the U.S. drone trade would require long-term industrial coverage, manufacturing scale, and endurance.
Stewart, Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Authorities Affairs at Crimson Cat, spoke throughout a session titled “Industrial Coverage: America’s Secret Weapon for Drone Dominance.”
Crimson Cat is a U.S.-based producer centered on navy and dual-use drone methods. Throughout the session, Stewart framed the present drone manufacturing debate not as a short-term political situation, however as a part of a decades-long shift in how nations strategy industrial capability.
He opened by evaluating current U.S. industrial coverage with the state-supported manufacturing technique enacted in China during the last a number of many years. Moderately than specializing in politics, Stewart emphasised variations in manufacturing philosophy, long-term planning, and ecosystem growth.
“Industrial coverage constructed America,” Stewart stated, referring to circa WWII insurance policies that helped develop manufacturing within the US.
He argued that america steadily moved away from prioritizing home manufacturing.
“Factories turned liabilities, Wall Avenue beat Major Avenue, offshoring turned ‘technique,’ and America obtained hooked on low cost and handy,” Stewart stated.
Stewart contrasted that with the manufacturing enlargement that happened in China over the identical interval. “Whereas America Financialized, China Industrialized,” he stated.
Wright’s Regulation and the Scale Downside
On the heart of Stewart’s argument was a producing precept often called Wright’s Regulation.
Initially developed by aerospace engineer Theodore Wright within the Nineteen Thirties, Wright’s Regulation holds that manufacturing prices lower as manufacturing quantity will increase. As corporations construct extra items, they achieve efficiencies in sourcing, labor, tooling, and provide chains.
Stewart argued that this precept explains why scaling home drone manufacturing issues greater than merely assembling small numbers of plane inside america.
“The labor hole doesn’t drive a major proportion of the fee,” Stewart stated. “The problem is that we’re shopping for components in a whole lot, not within the a whole lot of hundreds that might drive prices down.”
That concept shaped the core of his broader argument for industrial coverage. In keeping with Stewart, governments usually play a key position through the early phases of strategic industries as a result of scale itself creates decrease prices over time.
“Authorities takes preliminary threat and since it’s twin use, it scales in every single place,” Stewart stated, referencing applied sciences like GPS that started as government-supported applications earlier than turning into commercially ubiquitous.
Stewart additionally argued that america can’t rebuild manufacturing dominance immediately.
“That’s not one thing that occurs simply because you’ll it into existence,” he stated.
He acknowledged the truth that growing home manufacturing capability could initially lead to increased costs and slower timelines.
“We’re undoing 35 years of unhealthy coverage. Issues will value extra and take longer for some time,” Stewart stated.
Nonetheless, he maintained that scaling manufacturing is finally the one path towards lower-cost American-made methods.
“Like planting a tree, one of the best time to begin a drone trade was 18 years in the past. The second finest time is at this time,” Stewart stated.
Past Protection Functions
Stewart acknowledged that leisure and prosumer drone customers have borne a lot of the impression from restrictions and limitations positioned on drones manufactured in China.
In keeping with Stewart, increasing home manufacturing might ultimately assist a broader ecosystem that features protection, enterprise, leisure, and prosumer markets alike.
The session provided a notably pragmatic perspective on the way forward for the U.S. drone trade. Moderately than promising fast options, Stewart introduced a historic mannequin of business coverage and manufacturing scale as long-term structural challenges that can require sustained funding and coordination throughout authorities and trade.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, knowledgeable drone providers market, and a fascinated observer of the rising drone trade and the regulatory atmosphere for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles centered on the industrial drone area and is a global speaker and acknowledged determine within the trade. Miriam has a level from the College of Chicago and over 20 years of expertise in excessive tech gross sales and advertising and marketing for brand new applied sciences.
For drone trade consulting or writing, E-mail Miriam.
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