U.S. Army Corporal Matthew G. Mena from the New York Army National Guard, performs a systems check on an RQ-11 Raven B, a small unmanned aerial system, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey
Photo by Mark C. Olsen/New Jersey National Guard
The Russo-Ukrainian War that began in February 2022 has provided significant insights into the importance of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) across several missions. UAS have served as platforms to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); targeting systems for indirect fire; one-way loitering munitions (which attack by crashing into the target and exploding); and platforms that can engage targets and return to the owning unit. According to some reports from early in the conflict (summer 2022), UAS identified up to 80 percent of Ukraine’s targets for indirect fire missions, and loitering munitions have had considerable publicized effects. Combatants’ innovation regularly adds new insights: Ukrainian and Russian UAS employment is changing rapidly, with some claiming it is reshaping modern warfare. Small uncrewed aircraft systems (SUAS) present a major opportunity and challenge for the U.S. Army.
Exploiting the many opportunities that SUAS present will require the Army to train as it will fight and overcome substantial force-integration challenges. To examine these issues, the XVIII Airborne Corps asked RAND to identify options for the Army to select, field, and employ SUAS and to assess the implications of integrating additional Group 1 and 2 SUAS into divisional brigades for reconnaissance, fires, and other purposes. Researchers sought to derive implications for institutional and unit training and training support; other institutional functions needed for success, such as how SUAS are acquired and accounted for; and support functions needed for large-scale combat operations with a peer competitor.
