Veteran’s Corner
Tom Krabbenhoft
“Wars are fought with tactics of the last war” a quote attributed to French PM Georges Clemenceau. Weapons appear that can change the entire landscape of warfare. Some noteworthy are the Longbow, gunpowder, machine gun, tanks and aircraft are a few examples.
Often slight changes in technology can increase lethality the rifling the barrel on firearms, synchronized propellers to shoot through and width changes in tank treads are all examples.
Material changes too Iron Swords are much deadlier than bronze, sheet aluminum for aircraft replaced fabric and wood.
No matter the improvement of the weapon, a visionary is needed to bring out its potential. A true visionary Billy Mitchell the father of the Air Force. He advocated air power after WW1. He theorized air power would make the battleship obsolete. Air power could and would be a quicker response to threats than a conventional Navy. Mitchell had predicted Pearl Harbor, the military minds at the time concluded coastal artillery was more than sufficient to guard the islands. Mitchell for his trouble and insubordination seen him being court martialed in 1925. What if we did it his way?
All this led me to think we are on the edge of another critical shift in warfare. I recently watched several videos of drones. One of them contained 10,197 drones that flew synchronized drawing figures in the air and changing colors. They were all controlled by one computer. What if these drones were to be weaponized and turned on a ship? The drones could be programmed to be target specific. Let’s take 5,000 drones 1,000 programmed to target people, 1,000 targeted against radar domes, antenna and anything that deals with targeting, 1,000 targeting weapons platforms and the final 2,000 to raise hell start fires, drop smoke, deliver chemical agents or deploy mines. After the initial swarm of these smaller drones larger drones that can pierce a ship’s hull could appear. If the ship is not sunk it would surely be disabled.
Take this same 5,000 drone scenario and apply it to a battlefield where individual drones target infantrymen, artillery crew members, truck drivers etc. A very, very good drone can be purchased for $1,000, I’m certain the Chinese military could manufacture them much cheaper. Five million dollars’ worth of drones could take out a billion dollar warship, or disrupt an army division.
There are two solid ways to fight this. Drone on drone warfare. This could be an economic loss for us as we can’t make things as cheap as the Chinese. ECM (Electric Counter Measures), here again edge to the Chinese. They deploy Legions of hackers and computer experts. Our best minds are in corporate America. Chances of us disrupting their drones or even turning them against them is slim.
We need an advancement of some kind, maybe AI is the answer? We also need a visionary or parent of US drone warfare.
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