The Army certainly should be worried about enemy small-drone swarms coming underneath traditional air defense weapon envelopes in what I've called the "brown skies" close to the ground. But the suggested response risks crippling infantry more than enemy drone swarms could achieve.
"I think inherently the Army is really looking hard at making counter-UAS [a military occupational specialty] agnostic platform. Anyone from a cook to a medic to an infantryman [or] tanker can operate the system, so we are trying to make the requirements and the material solutions very intuitive," said Col. Marc Pelini, division chief for Capabilities and Requirements at the JCO.
Smaller units will need smaller counter-UAS systems that will likely rely on electronic warfare, or EW, technology that jams or disrupts enemy drones, Gainey said.
That's a good approach for troops on bases or for units not in contact with the enemy.
But I have serious doubts about whether that approach is appropriate for infantry. Or for tankers unless the anti-UAV system is automatic like active defense systems used against anti-tank missiles. A couple years ago in Army magazine I argued for air defense drone swarms to combat enemy offensive drone swarms aimed at our forward troops.
For the Army troops at the tip of the spear, absorbing the drone defense mission is dangerous. Being capable of fighting off swarms of enemy drones will mean that those troops are unable to focus on their primary mission of closing with and destroying the enemy.
Unless the only infantry mission is force protection, somebody else has to have the bulk of the small-unit drone defense mission apart from last-ditch point defense.
