US Army says it is not abandoning drones — Breaking Defense
In the United States, the US Army said it is not scaling back its work on drones and autonomous systems, despite the decision to return the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment to the format of a conventional infantry unit. US Army Chief Technology Officer Alex Miller stressed that this does not mean abandoning drone development.
“Let me be clear: we are not slowing down in drones or autonomous systems, and we are not walking away from them,” Miller said. Breaking Defense reports.
Temporary specialization of the battalion
The Europe-based battalion is part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. In January, it was officially designated as an unmanned systems battalion so that service members could deepen their knowledge of using drones and other autonomous capabilities, taking into account the experience of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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According to the publication, for several months the unit’s service members took part in exercises and met with Ukrainian drone operators on NATO territory. In August, acting US Army Chief of Staff General Christopher Laney ordered the battalion to return to its traditional infantry format after completing two exercises in Germany.
Spreading experience across the Army
The decision drew criticism from lawmakers, who asked military leadership to explain the decision to “eliminate” the specialized unit. They said this could limit the United States’ ability to learn from allies’ experience, particularly that of Ukrainian service members, and modernize combat operations involving drones.
Miller responded that the battalion was never intended to become a permanent centralized unmanned systems unit. According to him, the US Army opposed creating a separate “drone corps,” because concentrating such knowledge in one place would make it more difficult to spread it throughout the Army. He added that the unit was temporarily given the specialization in order to study the experience and pass it on to other US Army units.
