SAM SKOVE
Two types of small quadcopter-type drones—first-person-view and tethered—may vault from curiosities to formal, funded Army gear next year, a service official said.
“We are aggressively seeking to have both of those” as programs of record in fiscal year 2025, said Lt. Col. Michael Brabner, who manages small-drone requirements within the Army’s Maneuver Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate. The goal would be to then field FPVs to a unit by fiscal year 2026, he added.
Infantry platoons would operate first-person view drones, or FPVs, while armored units would use tethered drones, Brabner said in a Friday interview.
FPVs rose to prominence in Ukraine after soldiers on both sides began using them to take out enemy vehicles that are far more expensive than the $400-and-up quadcopters. And U.S. Army units have experimented with tethered drones, which draw upon their wired power supply to remain aloft for long periods of time.
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