The U.S. Marine Corps Is Facing a Tough Drone Reality

[rangerrebew]

 
The U.S. Marine Corps Is Facing a Tough Drone Reality
Story by Kris Osborn • 19h

Key Points and Summary - The U.S. Marine Corps is "massively pivoting" to its maritime roots under Force Design 2030, but has "fallen massively behind" in the cheap, expendable drone warfare perfected in Ukraine.

-Having focused on "larger, expensive drones" while "overlooking commercially available opportunities," the Corps now faces a "drone deficit."
 
-To "close the gap," it has established a new "Marine Corps Attack Drone Team" to standardize tactics "at scale," acquire "one-way" FPV drones, and train Marines in counter-drone electronic warfare and signature management.

The Marine Corps Is Heading Into Its Drone Era
Over the course of the last decade, the US Marine Corps has been massively pivoting back to its maritime roots and preparing for major power combat, following years of counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-u-s-marine-corps-is-facing-a-tough-drone-reality/ar-AA1Q68cI?ocid=widgetonlockscreen&cvid=6911c7dd32ac43d68ba3690f0a9f0aea&ei=46

[BobfromWB]

The US does not currently build or plan to build FPV cheap drones either GPS or cabled in any quantities which needs to be in the millions per year to compete on the modern battlefield.

All the pivoting in the world will not help.

[Smokin Joe]

The US does not currently build or plan to build FPV cheap drones either GPS or cabled in any quantities which needs to be in the millions per year to compete on the modern battlefield.

All the pivoting in the world will not help.

Don't worry. The pentagon will spend millions on focus groups and research, build three or four gee whiz prototypes at huge cost, and then cancel because there is a new model in development to be out in just seven or eight years. 

All this makes me want to get a drone to do overhead views and check out cliffs in the badlands (geology), and if I could afford thermal, to help with SAR in concert with the local authorities (not to mention game scouting).

[verga]

I am happy they are staying current with Technology, but if these are going to be strictly surveillance vehicles there are plenty that are commercially available. Police and Firefighters use them daily. If they are going to be Predator style, the Air Force already has them.

[BobfromWB]

I am happy they are staying current with Technology, but if these are going to be strictly surveillance vehicles there are plenty that are commercially available. Police and Firefighters use them daily. If they are going to be Predator style, the Air Force already has them.

The point is they are not staying current - they are still fighting in Vietnam. Or maybe Grenada ...

Surveillance drones per se are obsolete - modern drones use add-ons for different roles: a FPV drone flying by cable could have a explosive, and also carry FR video which most do out of the box costing under $3k each. But units costing that little or less are not sexy, glamorous, or have bragging rights attached, so they are not on the list.

General want bespoke multi-million dollar drones where there is only a handful in existence ... that way, when they've used up their drones in the first few minutes of a major conflict, they can point to higher ups that cut their budget. US drone policy as the public knows it, is a recipe for disaster.