"One of the threats seen in every [area of responsibility] ... coming towards a lot of our military installations are a variety of different drones," Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord said.
The Iranian attack on Saudi oil installations earlier this year highlights that low-altitude threat. Certainly the Russians have faced a number of small drone swarm attacks on their bases in Syria.
I speculated about one form of drone threat to air bases a couple years ago:
So, could we have artillery shells or air-dropped carrier shells that seed areas around an enemy air base with scores (or hundreds) of small flying drones that would cloud attack an enemy plane as it takes off, flying into engine intakes during vulnerable low-speed assent?
This was based on the worries of the Air Force about swarms of small drones being used to down an F-22 by flying into the air intake.
Bases can use ground-based weapons to defend the base. Although with my blog post suggestion active patrolling around the perimeter of an air base would be necessary.
Still, with drone swarms, I think my idea in Army magazine of air defense drones over our forward infantry makes the most sense so the infantry isn't lugging around even more gear.
