How should drones be integrated into the United States Army?
As part of a number of UAV recommendations, RUSI advocates separate drone battalions in armies:
[The] effectiveness of UAVs is largely determined by their layered employment, by crew skill, and by the capacity to plan flights. The latter requires access to electromagnetic surveys, meteorological data, intelligence on enemy air defences, and awareness of other UAV activity. The need to scale effect, and to have access to a support structure that must often draw on highly classified capabilities, means that while some UAVs may be widely distributed as tactical tools, most classes of UAV are better grouped into a specialist formation that is able to use different kinds of UAV in combination, and that has the in-house capacity to update and reconfigure its UAVs.
They'd fit nicely in a Army Air Corps--or better yet a Army Fires Corps for the synergy of different systems RUSI notes.
The Army doesn't want drone operators in their own branch:
A Virginia Congressman is asking the Army to create a drone corps as a formal training branch, on par with traditional specialties like artillery and intelligence. But Army leaders aren’t buying it.
But that shouldn't mean that certain larger classes of drones not part of maneuver units can't be organized in battalions or companies as part of a Fires Corps that integrates artillery, rockets, missiles, and drones in fires brigades or battalions to maximize timely fire support to the Army.
One thing RUSI does not include is a fighter drone capability, which I advocated in this Army article. I think that is inevitable.
But I have notions rather than firm opinions--let alone a solid position. So I'm following the debate with interest.
UPDATE: To fight suicide drones, should air defenses and fires assets be combined in the "'air littorals,' meaning contested airspace closer to the ground"? That is, shooting at the operator on the ground or shooting down the drone is all part of the same mission.
In that Army article about fighter drones cited in the main post I used the same variation of the "littorals" that the Navy has used for a long time distinguishing between deep "blue waters" versus coastal "green waters" or even "brown waters" that are so close to the land it is muddy. But I called that space just above the ground troops the dusty "brown skies" distinct from the "blue skies" where expensive warplanes roam.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.