Drones aren't really weapons but they can be used like weapons in which case they have a payload value like a cannon does this is the payload of the drones on board weapon.
Drone's are not always weapons but combat drones are likely to fight little fighter jets, they escort the parent ship and engage targets according to the active rull set.
There are 3 rules like pet modes e.g.
Guard: Only hit what has hit me.
Attack: Hit my target if I have one or engage anything that is in range.
Passive: Ignore everything and just follow me
Drones use drone storage and bandwidth but not power, drone storage is the total about you can carry (think ammo capacity), bandwidth is how many you can have deployed at a time.
Carrier can use a special category of drone that is more like a small corvette than a fighter jet e.g. it has its own turrets and have multiple weapon systems to use … in either case its still an AI piloted pet like weapon.