In the case of the US I’m afraid that hubris and ego will prevail for the next three years at least.
In WWII, when women pilots were first used to ferry aircraft to their fighting bases, they delivered a bomber to Newfoundland, to be fueled for its trip to England. There was no male crew immediately available, so the female crew volunteered to make the flight. General Hap Arnold ordered them to stand down and wait for a male crew - because that was policy.
That attitude is what Ukraine will face if they offer to train American forces in drone warfare. That means the US will suffer a strategic delay in its adaptation to a modern battlefield.
There is a bitter irony that the key battle tested exemplar of your fine article is called Achilles. One of the principal weaknesses in modern engineering is lack of trained technicians to maintain and add innovation to developing technologies. This systemic educational failure is compounded by breakdowns in supply side components by isolationist policies such as Brexit.
Not to mention that civilian airports are chaotic when a drone appears and it seriously impacts travel. Police forces everywhere need to be able to take down these devices in protected airspace and do it quickly.
thank you for an enlightening article. It is important to understand what you point out as 'layered' operating environments and the skills to navigate within them. This is where Ukraine's wartime, real battlefield experience will tell.
In the case of the US I’m afraid that hubris and ego will prevail for the next three years at least.
In WWII, when women pilots were first used to ferry aircraft to their fighting bases, they delivered a bomber to Newfoundland, to be fueled for its trip to England. There was no male crew immediately available, so the female crew volunteered to make the flight. General Hap Arnold ordered them to stand down and wait for a male crew - because that was policy.
That attitude is what Ukraine will face if they offer to train American forces in drone warfare. That means the US will suffer a strategic delay in its adaptation to a modern battlefield.
Many questions I had about deployment of drones, how training was being conducted and organized, etc., have been answered. Your column is invaluable!
There is a bitter irony that the key battle tested exemplar of your fine article is called Achilles. One of the principal weaknesses in modern engineering is lack of trained technicians to maintain and add innovation to developing technologies. This systemic educational failure is compounded by breakdowns in supply side components by isolationist policies such as Brexit.
Not to mention that civilian airports are chaotic when a drone appears and it seriously impacts travel. Police forces everywhere need to be able to take down these devices in protected airspace and do it quickly.
thank you for an enlightening article. It is important to understand what you point out as 'layered' operating environments and the skills to navigate within them. This is where Ukraine's wartime, real battlefield experience will tell.
US drone pilots are pretty good with their Predators and such. They haven't missed a fishing boat yet