The U.S. Army is returning its experimental drone-warfare battalion to a conventional infantry role after a months-long test of uncrewed systems, but senior officials said on Sept. 9 that the change was planned from the start and does not signal a retreat from drones or autonomous systems.
The Unmanned Assault Battalion was created last fall within the 173rd Airborne Brigade as a short-term experiment to test uncrewed technologies and develop battlefield lessons that could be applied across the Army, Alex Miller, the Army’s chief technology officer, told reporters on Wednesday.
“Let me be very clear, we are not slowing down on drones or autonomous systems, and we are not walking away from them,” Miller said. “So, I don’t want anybody to take that as a perception that we’re walking away, or this is less important.”
The Army’s plan to phase out the experimental battalion became public last month, prompting criticism from lawmakers after The Wall Street Journal first reported the move.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve asking them to explain the decision. The lawmakers said they had “deep concerns” that refocusing the battalion would limit the Army’s ability to learn from Ukraine and other allies as U.S. service members face attacks from Iranian drones in the Middle East.
Miller said some of the backlash was probably due to the Army not making clear earlier that the battalion was never intended to become a permanent, specialized drone unit.
“We’re sort of combating this narrative that we stood something new up and then we killed that new thing and we’re going to sacrifice it at the altar of technology,” Miller said. “That’s just not true.”
The initial plan, Miller said, was for the battalion to spend six to seven months testing uncrewed technologies and learning tactics before receiving its full complement of infantry battalion equipment. The purpose of that period was for the battalion’s personnel to “learn some of those lessons and then pass them out to the rest of the Army,” he said.
“Our theory of the case is, if you centralize that in one place, what you lose is the ability to actually scale that learning and send that out to the rest of the Army,” Miller said.
Brent Ingraham, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology, told reporters that the service is continuing to expand its use of drones beyond the experimental battalion.
“We are employing unmanned aircraft systems at all levels,” Ingraham said.