Land operations
As the danger posed by emerging near-peer aerial threats continues to grow, especially regarding small drones, the US Army has unveiled its first new short-range air defence system in decades. Isabel Ellis hears from Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former US Army Europe commander, to learn about the benefits of the new Manoeuvre Short-Range Air Defence (M-SHORAD) system, which is based on the 8x8 Stryker vehicle, and how it will address the gap in the US Army’s short-range air defences.
Clear the air W
ars change warfare. In 1914, the only tanks were for storage. When Nazi Panzers burst into Poland 25 years
later, no one knew if it was possible to engineer an atomic bomb. The US military entered Afghanistan – and began what was to become its most significant engagement since the Cold War – without a single armed drone in its arsenal. As is now well known, through the course of the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan, the US pioneered the use of UAVs for targeted killings and air support. In doing so, it created a tool as impactful as the tank – and disrupted the paradigm brought about by nuclear weapons. As Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Mark Mazzetti writes in The Way of the Knife, “In the first half of the past century, tanks and planes transformed how the world fought its battles. The fifty years that followed were dominated by nuclear warheads and ICBMs, weapons of such horrible power that they gave birth to new doctrines to keep countries from
ever using them. The advent of the armed drone upended this calculus: War was possible exactly because it seemed so free of risk.” Mazzetti’s book was published in 2012, back when armed UAVs were still a relatively exclusive technology that only the US and some of its closest allies used to plan and launch more difficult – and allegedly more accurate – strikes against high- value targets. Since then, however, cheap hobbyist drones, more sophisticated equivalents to US UAVs and ‘loitering munitions’ that fly straight into their targets have empowered armed forces all over the planet. In 2014, Russian drones spotted for artillery during the annexation of Crimea; now Ukraine is using Turkish UAVs to attack Russian-backed separatists in the region. The rush to minimise risk has created new challenges for everyone. “Just like with any weapon system, all sides are trying to exploit the potential of drones,” says retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commander of the US Army in Europe. “The thing
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Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
US Army
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