25 December 2024

Imagining a US Army Drone Corps

Joshua Suthoff

In February 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the creation of the Unmanned Systems Forces. It is no secret that the Ukrainian military has used drones to great effect. Its units continue to innovate with drone tactics, techniques, and procedures and effects in the air, land, and maritime domains. Both belligerents in the Russia-Ukraine War have pledged to build over a million aerial drones each year to fill the skies. Even with the extremely innovative use of the drones (mine laying, incendiary delivery) already observed in Ukraine, history will show that the most important attribute of drones has been their ability to serve as economy-of-force systems. In a grinding war of attrition, drones have allowed the Ukrainian military to protect its limited combat power and threaten a much larger combat force across multiple domains.

The Unmanned Systems Forces that Zelenskyy announced amount, effectively, to a drone corps. US policymakers have taken note of the effectiveness of drones in the conflict and a drone corps may also be coming to the US Army. A draft 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) from the US Congress directed the Army to establish such a corps as a basic branch. The language did not make the US Senate’s version of the NDAA—however, it is an understatement to say that drones and their effects are here to stay on the battlefield. Drones may not be revolutionary in their impacts, but they are a creditable and enduring enabler—an enabler that continues to threaten the hegemony of traditional branches like artillery and the once dominant mass of infantry and armor. The Army and DoD more broadly are striving to innovate with drones, but standardization, training, and tactics vary. The DoD Replicator program’s primary mission is to increase the available drone inventory, but how effective is a deep magazine of drones without subject matter experts to operate and employ? This trend of drones’ growing impact will likely continue as they are paired with AI and other technologies. But in an imagined near future where the NDAA has passed with the drone corps language intact, what form should such a corps take?

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