Marines in the Pacific are pushing drone operators down into fireteams. So much for every Marine a rifleman.
I'm just not happy with drones within a squad:
“Equipping our Marines with FPV attack drones give[s] us a useful tool that provides an additional kinetic option for us to use,” said 1st Lt. Evan Brace, a company executive officer with 3rd LAR, in the release. “This capability allows units down to the fireteam level to possess organic, precise fires capable of shaping their battlespace.”
I expressed my opinion when the Army was looking for where to put drones. In a weapons platoon at the company level seems like the lowest level small drones should be. Detach teams down to platoons or squads as needed. But establishing drones as an organic part of the tip of the close combat spear just risks making every "infantry" platoon a mini-air force shaping the battlefield rather than engaging in close combat to take and hold ground.
A mini-air force the infantry has to carry on their backs. But get back to me when small drones are no bigger than a grenade on a soldier's webbing.
Of course, this news is from 3rd Marine Division, which converted much of itself to support to Marine Littoral Regiments. So perhaps that doesn't hurt their already limited ground combat capabilities.
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NOTE: Photo from the article.
