Non-State Organizations Turn to Commercial Drones

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The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is concerned that even the most advanced tech his troops use in the field today is being aged out, given rapid advances in commercial technologies that have overtaken military-grade gear. Gen. Tony Thomas, Head of SOCOM called for a wholesale change in how equipment is developed and modernized, saying incremental improvements are no longer enough.

The push to rapidly identify and buy new technologies mirrors a similar effort across the Pentagon, which is rushing to modernize after years of flat budgets while spending tens of billions a year on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new National Security Strategy released earlier this year shifted the Pentagon away from the counterterrorism focus of the past 17 years to a renewed effort to confront powerful states with sophisticated weaponry. That change, Thomas said, doesn’t impact what his priorities are, since “our adversaries — not necessarily nation-states — but the small startup violent organizations, now have the ability to close the gap because of technology market trends,” Thomas said.

That lesson was driven home for American forces in Syria last summer, when an Iranian drone dropped munitions near a patrol of U.S. special operations forces and Syrian allies. The attack, among others, was a wakeup call for the relative ease with which advanced militaries can fall victim to DIY drones. To meet that threat, SOFWERX is setting up camp in the Nevada desert next month to run a group of drones through their paces in an effort to find and field counter-drone technologies, according to breakingdefense.com.

Not only do special operators need to improve their ability to communicate with one another but “operators also need to have the confidence that the data they’re receiving is legitimate, and hasn’t been spoofed or hacked in any way.”