Russia may or may not be able to exploit this drone-swarming capability more than America. But it is a threat and somebody will use it against us. America needs small fighter drone swarms to cope with the threat.
Such swarms also force the adversary to expend munitions and other military resources, thus signaling positions in a way that enables further precise attacks or electronic countermeasures. The Russian military is also working on developing swarms of robotic systems in the air, on the ground, and at sea. Some of these projects are close to reality and will likely be available to directly challenge Moscow’s opponents in the near future. In short, allowing Russian forces to gain such an advantage via numerous uncrewed systems cooperating with their regular forces across multiple domains would have dramatic consequences for any military force that confronts them on the battlefield.
One thing that hadn't occurred to me was the use of drone swarms as recon-by-fire. Ground forces defending themselves against drone swarm attacks reveal their positions and enable other more traditional weapons to be used against the now-spotted targets.
All the more reason to have fighter drone swarms on combat air patrol to defeat the attacking swarms, as I discussed in Army magazine. There is no way the Air Force can extend their blue sky fighter umbrella to the "brown skies," as I termed the air space just above our troops.
And ground-based air defenses will not only overly burden and distract ground units from primary ground combat missions. Even successfully carrying out the mission will expose them to other enemy fires.
Russia has lot of grand weapons plans. Do they have the money and skill to implement this threat?
But if Russia can't do it, China will. And others. The threat is already there:
The proliferation of small unmanned aerial systems, usually commercially available drones that can be outfitted to drop weapons, is the most “persistent and dangerous” threat to troops in the Middle East in decades.
Although to be fair, the primacy of that threat is likely due to the absence of other methods of striking routinely.
Maybe Russia will just take longer to field this threat.
Air combat drones are the way to stop this threat, wherever it threatens American troops.
