China is putting a LOT of money, and personnel, into drones and their deployment. That might be just aimed at Taiwan, or it might be used against other countries.
Drones are best used fairly locally – yes, I do know that drones CAN be controlled at a distance, but most of the drones in wide production are meant for relatively short distances. That reach can be increased via satellite capability or repeater towers, but there is still a limit to their reach. You can check out the current status of the technology from these links.
Military drones are generally higher-end gadgets, and may have a reach of 4-10 miles. But the concept of sitting in your living room and taking out Russia’s military is a fantasy. Fun to imagine, but not gonna happen.
How drones MIGHT be useful is for relatively local defense – near borders, patrolling harbors, ASSISTING security in restricted installations. I mention ASSISTING, because humans – acting in the field – are your FIRST line of defense. We have multiple senses, and can assess situations with a sophistication that the machine/operator team cannot match.
Human intelligence, and the willingness to act on an informed hunch, is what makes the American combat soldier. I was reading about the social experiments of the Vietnam Era, that put unqualified, and often just not that educated or smart soldiers into the field.
The results were disastrous, both for those soldiers, and for the men surrounding them.
While SOME of them may have managed to handle some of the non-combat jobs, they were not suited for the boots on the ground positions. There is a reason that so many wash out of advanced training, such as the Rangers. You gotta be smart, respected by your peers, and able to sort through solutions and adapt your combat plan.
Not a job for dummies, contrary to what is widely believed on The Left.
Ultimately, it is not the machine that will make the difference in war, it is the trained operators.
The smartest thing (and one of the cheapest) that the military can do is to get some basic drones and organize training for them (comparable to that of commercial drone operators – my son-in-law received his license, and when I saw what the content of the training was like, I was quite impressed). Limit further drone training to the most proficient, and those that were able to come up with ways to use them in combat.
Don’t limit the drone pilots to that work only – they should maintain their other combat training. The drone capability is a TOOL, just as the many electronic instruments that they use in battle are.
We don’t need fat boys whose only experience with combat is World of Warcraft to be the pilots. Let the fighting troops use this as their spare-time hobby.
And, on America’s home front?
If the Rednecks don’t already have the drones, they oughta make it their mission to buy a GOOD one, and learn to use it. Local defense may be in their near future.
