Mark Pomerleau
The proliferation and availability of small drones is allowing Army units at lower echelons to see and sense farther, negating the need for larger or more exquisite platforms or risking forward observers.
As part of a new Army concept, the 25th Infantry Division has been able to test new equipment that its commander said made it more lethal, agile and mobile.
“At a company level or even at a battalion level, they relied on assets predominantly from the brigade or higher level — assets that required sustainment and security,” Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, commander of 25th ID, told reporters Friday. “Now we have small unmanned aerial systems in the hands of squad leaders that can see three to five kilometers from their current position, which allows them to understand the battlefield better, protect themselves and creates increased lethality from their overall awareness.”
These UAS provide smaller units the ability to project farther and find targets, making them more mobile. A key tenet of future battle is the ability for units to be more dispersed given the advanced technologies potential nation-state adversaries possess to track U.S. forces. Top Army officials have stressed that there is nowhere to hide on the modern battlefield anymore due to overhead imagery and advanced sensors.
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