The United States presumes to have one of the most powerful armies in the world, and there is no doubt about that. However, it is evident that it drags a weakness that has become too evident as drones.
While Ukraine, Russia and even regional powers in the Middle East have shown that these unmanned aircraft have become the central weapon of wars, the Pentagon continues to advance slowly.
The internal bureaucracy, as well as the priority by traditional programs, such as aircraft carriers or fighters, absorb a good part of the budget and prevent drones production from reaching the necessary scale.
The drones, the «FD» of the present
General James Mingus, number two of the US army, summarized it with a blunt phrase: The drones are «the FDI today». And it is that two decades ago, the improvised explosive artifacts put Washington’s troops in check in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They were cheap, easy to manufacture and undermined the superiority of the most advanced military machinery. Today the threat has another form, such as quadrchoptera that load explosives, kamikazes drones or meloding ammunition capable of reaching armored and artillery with an unthinkable accuracy for a low -cost weapon.
Logic is the same, an adversary with less resources can compensate for its inferiority by resorting to accessible technology, while the great power takes too long to react. The Pentagon recognizes the problem, but his answer is being too slow.
The purchase processes are slow, where A good part of the components of the drones continue to depend on the Chinese industry and budget priorities continue to be linked to great prestige projects, such as f-35 fighters or Sentinel missiles.
Initiatives such as the program Replicator or the strategy Military Drone Dominance They are underway, but the results are still modest in front of the millions of cheap drones that China or Russia manufactures every year or those that Ukraine throws daily on the battlefield.
Ukraine, Russia and China mark the rhythm
Ukraine has turned drones into a force multiplier, since small FPV quadcopters armed with grenades to swarms designed to hit shielded or even Russian ships in the black sea, creativity has marked a before and after.
Russia, although with less innovation, has deployed models such as Lancet, capable of hosting defensive positionsbut above all weaken the enemy war material. China, on the other hand, plays in another league, since it produces both civil and military drones, which gives it an unquestionable industrial advantage.
That ability to manufacture fast, cheap and in large quantities is what places Beijing in a strategic position against any adversary. Faced with this panorama, the United States continues to act on a small scale, buying limited lots and without a clear industrial plan that allows you to climb production.
The problem is not the lack of technology, since the North American country has advanced models, but The key to this new war is not to create the most sophisticated drone, but to flood the battlefield with disposable, cheap and effective swarms.
In this case, innovation is no longer measured in gross power, but in rapid adaptation, something that the Ukraine-Russian war has more than demonstrated and that the US does not yet replicate. This, in the future, will cost you very expensive, especially in the subject of adaptability.
A weak point in the most powerful army
That the United States is the first military power is not under discussion. No other country combines the naval, aerial and technological capacity that its army displays. The problem is that These tools are not enough in a war where a 400 euros drone can destroy a armor of millions.
The disadvantage is not absolute, but disturbing, because The country with the largest military budget in the world It is staying behind the most dynamic field of defense. The lag not only affects the offensive capacity, but also defensive.
Operations in Ukraine have shown that drones can dodge conventional aerial defenses and attack even strategic bombers on land. The Pentagon, meanwhile, continues to spend most of its resources on maintaining and modernizing carrier, fighters and missiles, while barely dedicating a minimal fraction to cheap anti -Didron defense systems.
The risk is evident, without a rapid adaptation, any adversary with the capacity to produce thousands of cheap drones, but with great destructive power, it can erode the US advantage in minutes.
It has been shown that constant innovation is more decisive than military superiority. AND China, with its industrial capacity, represents an even greater challenge if the geopolitical balance is stressed in the Pacific.
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Tags: drones, United States