JUST IN: Special Operations Command Needs More Robots
2/20/2025
By Laura Heckmann
WASHINGTON, D.C. — When Special Operations Command released a strategy document last year titled the “SOF Renaissance,” it emphasized a framework ‘“tailor made” to face the challenges of a changing strategic landscape. But one area where the command has some ground to cover is its arsenal of unmanned systems, its commander said.
Speaking at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Special Operations Symposium on Feb. 20, Army Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of Special Operations Command, said Ukraine has revealed an imbalance in SOCOM’s ledger: drones, robotics and artificial intelligence.
“Our ledger right now is a little out of balance,” he said. “On one side, we have all we need for a ‘worst day ever,’” such as bombers, fighters, aircraft carriers and missiles. On the other side, things that are “starting to show as changes” and “game changers” in the character of war are “thousands of one-way straight drones, thousands of drones that can go out and come back, uncrewed anything at scale, robotics at mass, AI everywhere.”
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2025/2/20/just-in-special-operations-needs-more-robots