Autonomous drone use is the next revolution in military technology, and it is not just the maneuver forces that benefit.
In current manning configurations, logistics units struggle with balancing security with sustainment operations. Convoys require outside security support or pull internal assets to man available turreted platforms. Support areas maintain a perimeter with vehicles or foxholes, using fuelers, maintainers, cooks, and drivers in a constant rotation. With additional manning unlikely in the near future, drone technology may provide an equipment security solution to support the personnel shortfall.
In large-scale combat operations (LSCO), early detection is key to the survivability of our sustainment forces. Emerging drone swarm technology has shown promise in providing continuous autonomous monitoring to maximize our ability to detect and respond to threats. In partnership with the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the DoD deployed an array of over 100 autonomous Perdix drones, capable of maintaining flight for 20 minutes and speeds up to 70 mph. Each drone works in conjunction with the others without requiring separate control. This swarming technology can provide continuous mission accomplishment without persistent human input. Since the first swarms took flight nearly a decade ago, the technology has rapidly advanced, with drones offering a vast array of support to military operations.
With combat operations at the forefront of swarm technology adaptation, can this growing military revolution also help secure our sustainment operations?
Convoy Operations
Our logistics vehicles are built for a specific function: hauling bulk supply. They are not technology-laden or sensor-equipped, and most lack even the basic battlefield tracking devices. Dedicated security platforms are limited, often supplanted by adding ring mounts to logistics vehicles to provide weapon system support. While it is unlikely that weapon-capable drones will make their way to sustainment units any time soon, passive support drones could provide extended visual and sensor capability along the increasingly vulnerable supply lines in LSCO. A package of small drones could be roof-mounted to a logistics platform and connected to the vehicle battery, serving as both a charging station and a launch platform. Several drones would be airborne at all times, autonomously moving in parallel and in front of the convoy, providing visual or infrared information back to the parent vehicle. Each drone would return to recharge while another would be launched, all while the convoy would remain in motion.
Extended convoys would employ several drone packages throughout the convoy, all working in conjunction to provide a bubble of live information. Detected potential threats could be examined, avoided, prepared for, or dealt with. In the case of enemy action or other stoppages, the drones could relay live visual context to improve the convoy commander’s and the security force’s critical and immediate situational awareness. With convoys stretching for a mile or more from front to end, with the added difficulty of turning semi-truck systems around on narrow roads, early warning and live information are critical for convoy survivability.
Support Area Perimeter Security
Convoys are not the only vulnerable logistics elements. In LSCO, the expansive support areas are prime targets. Our adversaries know that even small attacks can disrupt support operations or destroy supplies destined for the front lines. Currently, our support area perimeters are manned with available crew-served weapons and sustainment personnel. Early warning relies on vigilant Soldiers with binoculars and night-vision devices. Drone swarm technology would provide a continual monitoring capability far beyond the limited visual perimeter of the manned positions. Given the static nature of the support area, the drones could be as simple as micro unmanned aerial vehicles with limited range and payload, operated and monitored from a base defense operations center (BDOC) as part of the support area headquarters element.
A swarm of small sensor drones would work in continual rotation, flying out to monitor an area with visual or infrared detection responsibilities, alerting and circling identified threats, and returning for recharge autonomously. Like a robotic vacuum cleaner, a drone sweeps an area in a set pattern along the outer reaches of the support area. If necessary to clear airspace for helicopter operations, the BDOC could designate a no-fly zone to keep the drones at a safe distance. This capability allows support areas to tuck into the tree line without sacrificing line of sight, extending the early warning visual and sensor range well beyond what a Soldier can provide.
Future
Are drones ready to conduct these security operations right now? We are much closer than you might imagine. However, swarm technology currently seems to be hyper-focused on countering unmanned aircraft systems and offensive capabilities in support of front-line units and has yet to actively pursue the security needs of our under-equipped and vulnerable sustainment elements.
Leveraging swarm technology to provide extended monitoring capability to our convoy operations and support areas would be highly beneficial in relieving some of the need for augmented security support and would increase the survivability of our sustainment elements. The technology will continue to evolve and trickle down the military food chain, and perhaps one day, drone swarms will provide sustainment units with an active kinetic response to any threat. But for now, at least they can help us see what we are getting into.
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LTC Travis Michelena serves as the plans and exercises chief in the 79th Theater Sustainment Command Forward Element in Vicenza, Italy, in support of sustainment operations throughout Africa. An ROTC graduate from Tennessee Tech University, his career includes Army watercraft with 7th Transportation (Expeditionary), command of a forward support company in the 4th Infantry Division, observer controller/trainer and headquarters and headquarters company command with First Army, and Surface Deployment and Distribution Command battalion S-3 and executive officer in Europe. He has had deployments to Iraq for long-haul transportation operations, Afghanistan for security forces assistance, and Haiti for humanitarian aid operations.
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This article was published in the winter 2025 issue of Army Sustainment.
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