US special operators are going all in on drones so that a human never has to make 'first contact' with the enemy
US special operations forces are working with a lot of different drones.
Operators said the speed of technological innovation requires constant learning.
Each type of uncrewed system has a different purpose, but the goal is to acquire a lot of it for cheap.
FORT BRAGG, North Carolina — I play a lot of video games, and the simulator in front of me looked familiar enough: a handheld controller hooked up to a laptop.
Picking up the controller with confidence, I figured my years of gaming would give me an advantage. I was ready to fly my drone through an abandoned city, or so I thought.
The controls for movement — up, down, front, back — were extremely sensitive, far more than I expected.
I tried flying my drone into an empty, concrete building. I shakily skirted the edge of it and landed on the street. Then I just flew up and down for a bit, crashing a few more times as I went along.
"I'm not very good at this," I said. The US Army special operator who had been attempting to coach me, agreed, telling me that I probably wouldn't make a good drone pilot.
The good thing is that I don't need this particular skill, but the soldiers preparing for future fights and modern war need it as much as they do small arms skills and fieldcraft. Drones are fast becoming an unavoidable part of warfare.
The operator took the controller and effortlessly flew in and out of small windows in buildings. He cut sharp corners and soared through the open air. He made it look easy. It's not.
US special forces have been leading the charge on acquiring drones and training with them, working closely with industry partners on what capabilities are needed and then honing the skills required to operate them effectively.
At the US Army Special Operations Command's Capabilities Exercise at Fort Bragg in North Carolina last week, drones were everywhere. Small quadcopters, uncrewed ground vehicle systems, robot dogs, loitering munitions, and more were on display.
Operators and officials cited a number of reasons as to why uncrewed systems seemed to be such a priority.
Pointing at one of wheeled drones, Bryan Boyea, the ground robotics capabilities manager with USASOC's robotics division under its force modernization center, said that the goal was to "eliminate first contact ever being a human being."
The drone, Boyea noted, allowed operators to extend their eyes and ears on the battlefield.
Another, smaller drone — white and flatter to the ground — was nearby. This one, he said, is mostly for reconnaissance and intelligence purposes, gathering information on potential enemies in both urban and subterranean environments instead of a human being or military dog.
The drones are among the smaller ground equipment available to special operators, portable so teams can pick them up and carry them around. The bigger one weighs around 30 pounds.
First-person-view, or FPV, quadcopters were sitting nearby. These are smaller uncrewed aerial systems, lightweight and used for either intelligence-gathering or dropping smaller payloads.
One of the key attributes of these types of drones, operators said, was their adaptability — being able to change the sensors and payloads based on the mission requirements. They're also highly mobile, relatively easy to learn, and — ideally — scalable, meaning operators could use them in swarms.
A variety of companies are involved in producing different types of drones, and one operator said an important project is ensuring that the technology can work together with other systems via similar software.
Because the technology is developing so quickly, there's often a debate surrounding whether learning drones is an additional duty for operators — or an entirely new job in itself.
One Army special forces operator, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said the difference may come down to the type of drone.
A small ground drone with limited controls, it's likely that "anybody can pick that up in like 20 seconds," he said. But a quadcopter, for example, something that requires more flight skill and maintenance, "that's a job."
Some other uncrewed aerial systems, or UAS, such as UVision's Hero loitering munition and AeroVironment's Switchblade, were on display as well. Loitering munitions are one-way attack drones that loiter in an area before striking a selected target.
UVision's Hero has smaller and larger models; the former is easier to transport for forward-deployed operators, while the latter requires a launching platform and is designed for greater ranges.
The Switchblade, also a loitering munition, has been used by the US military for over a decade and saw heavy use in conflicts in the Middle East. They're designed to be small, although larger models do exist as well. This technology, much like FPV quadcopters, has been employed extensively in Ukraine.
Multiple robot dogs — quadruped ground drones — were also at the CAPEX, including one toting a rifle on its head. One such model was from Ghost Robotics.
These drones have been a growing interest for militaries around the world as ways to enhance the reach and reconnaissance of soldiers, as well as keep humans and military dogs out of harm's way.
Controlled by an operator, a robot dog's resting position looks, well, like a dog sitting. After it rises, it can move around on its four legs, twist and turn to look around, and run. When the camera at the front of it points in a direction, it does sort of feel like a dog looking up.
Operators, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told Business Insider the biggest challenge with all these drones is quickly learning all of the different controls and specifications.
Operators said it's becoming a bigger requirement, and it falls in line with SOF's larger shift towards great-power competition and preparation for the possibility of a war with a near-peer or peer-level adversary, a fight that could see prolific drone use, as well as countermeasures like electronic warfare.
It's a process bringing in new warfighting technologies, but one operator said "we're very good at integrating and training with the teams to make sure everyone's on the same wavelength when it comes to how we're going to integrate sUAS [small uncrewed aerial systems] and UGVs into the battlefield and onto a team."
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