Originally Posted by
uxb99
What is the likely hood that modern militaries will create some form of Drone regiment for deployment on the modern battlefield?
They seem to have caused considerable damage in this conflict and most armies seem to have focussed on the larger drones like the Predator.
Flooding the battlefield with these little drones could be a real pain in the butt for a modern army.
Drones are being used at multiple levels in the TAO. The MQ9/TB-2 type have their place, and require specialist skillsets at present. They provide reach, at a cost, and are vulnerable where there is any real air defence. The kamikazi drones give reach, but are not tactical without lots of effort in the back room. real time targeting is vulnerable to ECM and to kinetic defence weapons. The tactical quadcopters are inexpensive, and have been weaponised, this is still early in the innovation of offensive capability, but they are very disruptive when used as FO's for arty. Combined with terminal guided munitions or advanced arty fire directors, they are brutal. The tactical drones are changing what can and what can't be done in the field. The Ukrainians and even the Russians have shown that they can adapt rapidly in the tactical use, so as stated previously, their employment and defensive systems against the other teams similar systems is going to be an active field, and will have an effect to this type of old fashioned 1917 style warfare that the Russians seem bent on re-enacting. Training for integration of tactical drones is a change but not that big from prior art. Presumably there is a lot of new work happening in JTAC planning and training. A constraint about going all in with tactical drones as the answer to life and everything is that they are detectable, and can impact clandestine ops, so there is going to always be room for niche innovation in that area. L.O., low RCS, quiet drones would be worth a bit of effort, Maybe. Adding a home-on-jam with a det charge would be helpful.
Sure makes the guy in the trench have more headaches than before.