A successful drone (UAS, or unmanned aerial systems) defense that distracts a unit from its primary mission is a successful enemy drone campaign even if the defenses don't break.
This is absolutely vital to take into account:
“To counter (unmanned aerial systems), it can quickly burden small unit leaders,” said Col. Donald Neal, commander of the Vilseck, Germany-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
Clearly, units at the company level and below need a better means of controlling their own brown skies airspace. Yet rather than burdening lower-level units with additional ground-based air defense gun and missile systems, air-to-air combat UASs would provide better air defense than either high-flying advanced fighter aircraft or distant higher-echelon air defense weapons that will have difficulty identifying and tracking small aerial threats--let alone engaging them--before the threats strike and return to enemy positions. ...
Much as Army units carry out their operations unaware of the battles taking place in the blue skies that keep enemy aircraft away from the battlefield, units maneuvering and engaging in direct fire can't afford to be distracted by fighting for the brown skies above them.
This was once theoretical, but new counter-drone weapons entering arsenals make it a real concern. Of course, small unit leaders can be burdened with their own offensive small drones, too.
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NOTE: I made the image with Bing.
