British soldiers are testing the trade-offs of using drones both in the air and on the ground — and the challenges that come with each.
At a recent US-led exercise in the Mojave Desert, thousands of soldiers gathered to try out new technologies, including uncrewed systems. British troops at the training were experimenting with which types of drones were best suited to specific tactics and missions, and shared what they most want from these systems.
Lessons from the exercise included how systems performed in extreme heat and on rugged desert terrain, whether soldiers had enough drones for their missions amid electronic warfare and connectivity issues, and how drones can be most useful.
The British Army’s current experimentation unit, the 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, was present at the exercise alongside the unit that will take over their experimentation role, the 1st Battalion Irish Guards. The latter unit also has experience with drones, including a recent exercise with Ukrainian forces. Business Insider also attended the exercises.
Capt. Wick Willett, a mortar platoon commander with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards, said he and his troops had seen the strengths and weaknesses of drones. “I think there are challenges with both air and ground vehicles,” Willett told Business Insider, adding that what helps work through those issues are “these robust trials that we’re going through now.”
The British Army approaches testing of drone systems through two different processes: experimentation and trials. Trials are designed to take a drone, “put it through its paces, and test it to see if it does what the Army wants it to do” before it’s acquired, Lt. Col. John Black, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, told Business Insider. This includes safety and integration tests.
Experiments are more focused on applying a system to specific use cases, such as ground robots to make front-line logistics easier or safer, or aerial drones for reconnaissance.
Willett said he noticed the need for uncrewed ground vehicles to be more consumable, meaning troops could be able to use, lose, or break them more flexibly without worrying about the costs or feasibility of replacing them, “and in order to be consumable, they need to be at a certain price point per unit.”
Other soldiers expressed similar sentiments about ground robots, saying the systems could sometimes feel too high-end to use effectively in tactical settings. Black said his experience after testing dozens of UGVs was that the systems were often too expensive to be used in larger volumes and be expended.
Other issues with ground vehicles include driving over certain terrain, the impact of heat on systems and batteries, and the types of missions that are best suited, such as logistics runs and breaches that could be too dangerous for humans.
Willett said that ground robots can be harder to figure out how to use than uncrewed aerial vehicles, but “there are equal challenges” with flying drones as well, including the range, battery power, and loitering time. Having enough UAVs to make them expendable is also a challenge.
“You need to have enough systems that you could, for example, if you want to observe a particular area, you need to have enough systems in your magazine to be able to put one up and then, before that one runs out of charge, there’s another one up to take over the role,” he added.
With the large amount of drones used by both Ukraine and Russia in mind, Western officials have been considering the need for soldiers to have a large number of drones available to them.
One US Army commander said earlier this year that based on his unit’s experience, a brigade needed between 1,000 and 1,500 a week in a sustained combat operation. “We need drones at scale. We need to treat them like ammunition,” he said at the time.
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