ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

With the rapid proliferation of drones, the Army must lead in the drone warfare space, according to the author of a new paper published by the Association of the U.S. Army.

“The dawn of tactical drone warfare is here,” writes Lt. Col. Michael Kim. “The Russo-Ukrainian War clearly displays the advent of [kinetic drone] warfare, and it behooves the U.S. Army to make critical changes today. The U.S. Army must lead this effort and integrate tactical [kinetic drones] at scale before the next major conflict.”

While the Army has been trying to see farther at least since the Civil War, it is now working to leverage data and unmanned systems to push even deeper into the battlefield, a panel of experts said Dec. 3.

“We’ve been here before. What’s different is the scale and speed,” Brig. Gen. Rory Crooks, director of Army Futures Command’s Long-Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, said during a panel discussion that was part of an Association of the U.S. Army Hot Topic on fires.

In December, the Association of the U.S. Army’s “Army Matters” podcast will highlight the Army’s efforts to counter enemy drones and feature a soldier who helped make history at the 2024 Olympics.

The Army’s air defense branch is transforming to meet the rapidly evolving threat of unmanned aircraft systems, a panel of Army leaders said.

The prevalence of unmanned aerial systems presents a ubiquitous threat that is fundamentally transforming the battlefield, Undersecretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo said.

“What we’re seeing, and not just in Ukraine, but really around the world, is that the availability and the impact of small, unmanned aerial systems and the threats that they present on the battlefield is here to stay,” Camarillo said May 17 during a discussion on drone warfare hosted by the Center for a New American Security.

Lessons on drone warfare are being taken from the battlefields of Ukraine and infused into exercises at the Army’s combat training centers, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Wormuth, who testified alongside Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, said the Army is “aggressively collecting lessons learned from what we’re seeing in Ukraine across the board.”