Following are two noteworthy developments in the future of drone warfare. One, the expansion of drone warfare capabilities by the Department of Defense “at scale”. The other: a troubling drone presence in the northern frontier region of Mexico.
Featured Image Source: C/O Futures
The Wrong People Just Got Their Hands on an Elite Drone Unit
A notorious cartel is threatening to wreak havoc with a new team of specialized drone operators.
As reported at The Daily Beast: One of Mexico’s most violent cartels has just created its own elite unit of drone operators, a highly trained group of sicarios dedicated to tweaking commercial drones and turning them into flying bombs to use against rival cartels and Mexican authorities, according to U.S.-based security analysts, Mexican officials, and cartel members who spoke with The Daily Beast.
The ruthless Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG for its Spanish acronym) began weaponizing commercial drones more than four years ago, according to researchers and Mexican authorities. The creation of specialized drone units, however, indicates that the cartel is shifting its drone operations into high gear.
OODA Network Member John Sullivan was also quoted in The Daily Beast coverage:
“The significance of the institutionalization of weaponized aerial drones by criminal armed groups… can as a result present a more profound threat to the state and its security forces,” John P. Sullivan, researcher at C/O Futures, told The Daily Beast. “Future potentials might include targeting law enforcement and customs and border patrol officials on the frontier,” Sullivan said.
The article also references this initial report, of which Sullivan is a co-author: Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan, “Operadores Droneros del Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG): Specialized Cartel Drone Unit Patch.” C/O Futures Cartel Research Note Series. 31 May 2023, https://www.cofutures.net/post/operators-droneros-del-cartel-jalisco-nueva-generación-cjng-specialized-cartel-drone-unit-patch
‘Replicator’ revealed: Pentagon initiative to counter China with mass-produced autonomous systems
“…the new Replicator program is meant to get “multiple thousands” of autonomous systems in the hands of service members with two years.”
As reported at Breaking Defense: “To counter China’s military mass, the Pentagon…announced a new initiative, dubbed Replicator, that aims to crank out “multiple thousands” of “attritable autonomous systems” across “multiple domains” within two years.
“To be clear, America still benefits from platforms that are large, exquisite, expensive, and few. But Replicator will galvanize progress in the too-slow shift of US military innovation to leverage platforms that are small, smart, cheap, and many,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said…“So now is the time to take all-domain, attritable autonomy to the next level: to produce and deliver capabilities to warfighters at the volume and velocity required to deter aggression, to win if we’re forced to fight.”
Scaling, Hicks said, is the problem Replicator will most directly try to solve.
“We’ve looked at that innovation ecosystem [and] we think we’ve got some solutions in place… across many of those pain points, but the scaling piece is the one that still feels quite elusive — scaling for emerging technology,” she said during a Q&A portion of her presentation. “And that’s where we’re really going to go after with Replicator: How do we get those multiple thousands produced in the hands of warfighters in 18 to 24 months?”
“I mean it’s not without risk; we’ve got [to make] a big bet here, but what’s leadership without big bets and making something happen?”
Additional Resources
Networked Extremism: The digital era enables extremists worldwide to collaborate, share strategies, and self-radicalize. Meanwhile, advanced technologies empower criminals, making corruption and crime interwoven challenges for global societies. See: Converging Insurgency, Crime and Corruption
