Defeating Small Drones: The U.S. Army’s Next Big Challengehttps://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2021/03/18/defeating_small_drones_the_us_armys_next_big_challenge_768769.htmlThe proliferation of armed unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), also known as drones, presents a growing threat to maneuver ground forces, headquarters, logistics and critical infrastructure. This is particularly true for the explosion in the availability of small, increasingly sophisticated UASs. While the Pentagon has invested significant resources to address the challenge posed by medium and large drones as part of its air and missile defense program, it is only beginning to deal with the growing danger of small drones, particularly to military vehicles and dismounted formations.
One prominent Washington think tank described the challenge facing the U.S. military as that of “a drone saturated future.†More than 30 nations have either fielded armed drones or are developing them. Armed UASs, including so-called suicide drones, have figured prominently in Libya, Syria, the Caucasus, and Yemen. Non-state actors, such as the Islamic State, Boko Haram, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have employed UASs both to collect intelligence and attack soft targets. In 2018 defectors from the Venezuelan military attempted to assassinate the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, with explosive-laden, Chinese-made, commercially available drones.
Drones allow an enemy with limited resources to swarm-attack their stronger opponent on the cheap. The big challenge is not how to overcome
a drone, but how to overcome a swarm with inexpensive, easily/widely deployed, easy to operate
something.
