US Army photo by Sgt. Jose Lora
A US Army paratrooper scored the service’s first drone-on-drone kill, a notable event as it races to catch up. He said it felt like combat from the “Star Wars” movies.
The intercept comes amid other recent firsts as the Army and the broader US military adapt to drone warfare.
Earlier this month at a training exercise, 1st Lt. Francesco La Torre from the 173rd Airborne Brigade flew a first-person view drone carrying a Claymore mine into a fixed-wing uncrewed aerial vehicle, according to a new Army press release.
La Torre piloted the drone towards the UAS as another member of his team armed and detonated the payload. Then La Torre looked up from his end-user device (EUD) and saw the fixed-wing drone fall out of the sky.
La Torre said the drone-on-drone kill felt like something out of “Star Wars,” making an analogy to some of the space fight scenes from the original 1977 movie.
“In A New Hope, Luke Skywalker flies an X-Wing through the Death Star trench and blows it up,” he said. It’s an iconic scene. “This wasn’t like that. It was way harder. Honestly, it felt more like Darth Vader shooting down rebel pilots. He might be the villain, but he’s also one of the best pilots in the galaxy.”
Screenshot/Business Insider/Graham Flanagan
The drone kill occurred during the Army’s UAS and Launched Effects Summit at Fort Rucker, Alabama. It included involvement with the Army Combat Capabilities Command, a part of Army Futures Command that’s focused on developing and integrating advanced technologies into the service.
Paratroopers like La Torre and his team spent weeks prior to the training exercise learning how to fly and engage with UAS. During the summit, they flew drones daily during changing weather patterns.
The intercept is a clear example of how individual troops can make the most of low-cost drone systems and existing munitions, as well as how innovation has been coming from across the Army.
“It feels extremely satisfying to have this level of impact, La Torre, “but solving these kinds of problems should not be alien to junior officers, or any leader.”
“Every year the Army produces leaders at all levels who are better educated now than ever before,” he said. “At the end of the day, rank is immaterial when it comes to problem solving.”
The kill is also an indicator of how the Army is exploring the ins and outs of drone warfare, an adaptation that’s also presenting challenges. As part of a new crash-course, Army personnel said, soldiers were learning how to fly and use 3D printing to manufacture and repair FPV drones as an “aggressive attempt” to close the gap on the US military’s use of drones.
US Army Reserve photo by Sgt. Anh Tuan Nguyen
Training exercises across the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and in the US have seen soldiers struggle with unstable or lost video feeds with their drones, missing parts to repair systems in the field, and intense heat and varying climates that impact flight. Soldiers are using inexpensive drones to conduct battlefield reconnaissance and also offense, like using them to drop grenades.
Drones are a top priority for the Army, as well as the larger US military. Leaders and officials have pushed to flood units with drones and counter-drone systems, deeming these technologies necessary to prepare for potential future conflict. Investments are now being made in American drone technologies and courses on emerging drone and counter-drone systems.
Much has been learned from the Ukraine war as well, where drones are a dominant capability on both sides and have seen rapid advancement and countermeasures. Ukrainian operators have also used drones and other UAS to score aerial kills on Russian drones. Interceptor drones are now a growing area of investment for Ukrainian forces. These systems offer cheaper intercept solutions for air defense.
Drones in combat is messy. It can be difficult to sort out which side drones belong to in the chaos of a firefight. Drone operators must contend with electronic warfare like signal jamming, and troops on defense have to deal with the rise of fiber-optic drones with hard, unjammable connections. Artificial intelligence-enabled drones have also made an impact on the battlefield, complicating things for the defenders.
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