- The Marine Corps launched a new competitive drone team to enhance future warfare prep.
- The team aims to integrate advanced drone tactics inspired largely by the war in Ukraine.
- The initiative reflects a shift in military strategy, focusing on cost-effective drone systems.
The Marine Corps is known for its famous shooting and drill teams. Now, the service is adding a new competitive, precision weapons team to its ranks — a drone team.
"Today's battlefield is changing rapidly, and we must adapt just as quickly," said Maj. Alejandro Tavizon, headquarters company commander at Weapons Training Battalion.
Tavizon will oversee the newly created Marine Corps Attack Drone Team, a leading part of the service's efforts to catch up with advancements in drone warfare overseas, a Marine Corps statement said.
"The Marine Corps Attack Drone Team will ensure that our warfighters remain at the forefront of precision drone employment, providing a critical advantage in future conflicts," he said.
"By leveraging emerging technologies and refining drone employment tactics, we are ensuring that Marines remain agile, adaptive, and lethal in the modern battlespace," Tavizon added.
This effort isn't coming out of the blue, and arrives as modern combat is increasingly defined by unmanned weapon systems.
The Marine Corps said that "the creation of MCADT comes in response to the rapid proliferation of armed first-person view drone technology and tactics observed in modern conflicts, particularly in Eastern Europe," a clear reference to the Ukraine war where uncrewed combat is prolific.
The new drone team will be based with the service's Warfighting Laboratory and Weapons Training Battalion, with design based rooted in the Corps' competitive shooting team, a group that has long guided training development for the rest of the force.
That the service has chosen to house its couple warfare efforts with its prestigious shooting team may highlight just how seriously it's taking drone warfare.
The Corps considers the rifle to be the bedrock weapon for all Marines regardless of their job, part of the service's "every Marine a rifleman" mentality. Housing the drone team with the Weapons Training Battalion, the Corps' ultimate repository of small arms knowledge, could signal how drastically the service is trying to shift to the future.
"Right now, our focus is on rapidly building proficiency by sending Marines to a variety of training courses and increasing hands-on familiarization," Tavizon said. "Our goal is to ensure they can not only operate these systems effectively but also integrate them seamlessly into a team."
The Corps explained that it's using different small drone systems to facilitate "precision strikes up to 20 kilometers for under $5,000 —offering a more cost-effective and capable alternative to traditional weapons systems."
The team is set to represent the Corps in drone competitions around the world, with its first competition slated for this summer at the National Drone Association's Military Drone Crucible Championship, a competition meant to simulate drone usage in modern combat.
"MCADT will execute tactical missions using FPVs and small UAS in realistic scenarios designed to simulate modern combat," the Corps said, referring to the kind of first-person-view drones and uncrewed aerial systems that have been used extensively in Ukraine.
The new attack team will also be responsible for integrating key lessons learned from drone warfare overseas.
The drone team's establishment comes as the US military continues to tackle important problems.
First, the Pentagon is figuring out how to quickly procure rapidly changing technology, like drones, which is a significant change from the notoriously cumbersome military-industrial complex that ballooned throughout the Global War on Terror.
Second, the services are trying to apply lessons learned from relevant conflicts overseas, such as the war in Ukraine, to help shape plans for future warfare.
Ukraine continues to serve as a sort of test bed for drone experimentation that militaries across the globe are watching closely. Ukrainian and Russian forces are grappling with terrifying advancements, including drones with mounted shotguns, others that release molten thermite to pour over enemy positions, and drones piloted with AI assistance to boost strike accuracy.
Pacific nations are also taking note of Ukrainian developments— a Taiwan company recently announced the creation of a new "sea drone" designed to fire small torpedoes or ram into targets inspired by Ukrainian attacks on Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
