El US Army est\u00e1 transformando radicalmente el uso de drones en el campo de batalla. Para ello y dentro del programa de nivel Brigada \u201cTransformation \u2013 in \u2013 Contact\u201d (TiC), no solo est\u00e1 ensayando y desarrollando nuevas tecnolog\u00edas, sino buscando adem\u00e1s implementar los cursos necesarios para capacitar a los soldados, sea de infanter\u00eda, blindados o mantenimiento, para que puedan operar peque\u00f1os drones, en misiones de vigilancia, abastecimiento y ataque. La meta es que el manejo de estas tecnolog\u00edas se\u00a0incorpore como una habilidad b\u00e1sica\u00a0necesaria, similar a la calificaci\u00f3n requerida para el uso del arma individual.<\/p>\n
As the Army\u2019s\u00a0Transformation-in-Contact brigades<\/a>\u00a0test and help develop new technology, they\u2019re also shaping how soldiers will be trained to use it.<\/p>\n At Fort Stewart, Georgia., soldiers in the\u00a03rd Infantry Division<\/a>\u00a0are working on a pair of courses to certify soldiers to operate small unmanned aerial systems, part of servicewide effort to create doctrine around using drones throughout every formation.<\/p>\n \u201c3rd ID, specifically, is developing ways to qualify their operators on the different systems, and we are sending feedback back through the proper channels to big Army, to work on developing an Army-wide qualification course,\u201d Capt. William Langley, who leads the UAS and electronic warfare element in the 2nd Armored Brigade\u2019s 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, told reporters Tuesday.<\/p>\n Both the 1st and 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Teams are participating in TiC, with a special focus on integrating drones into tank units, said Capt. Brenden Shutt, the division\u2019s innovation officer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legacy UAS systems were focused on dedicated\u00a015-series UAS operators<\/a>, whereas now, we’re leaning more toward training standard infantry and armor soldiers to be the UAS operators,\u201d Shutt said.<\/p>\n So far the division has been focusing on UAS classified in\u00a0groups 1 and 2<\/a>\u2014that is, under 55 pounds. They\u2019ve fielded more than 150 of them, Langley said, including the\u00a0Anduril Ghost-X<\/a>, Performance Drone Works C100, the Neros Archer, the Teal 2, and the\u00a0AeroVironment Switchblade 600<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe mainly use these in a hunter-killer format, so we use the recon assets to find the targets, and then Archers\u2026to strike the target,\u201d Langley said.<\/p>\n To qualify, soldiers start with about 40 hours of simulation training before ever touching the UAS itself.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that, we work with smaller [first-person view drones], and they have to hit some obstacle courses and hit some gates before they go to a larger FPV, where they then actually learn to fly them, and then put certain skills into practice and learn to integrate them into conventional armor\/infantry tactics,\u201d Langley said.<\/p>\n And rather than picking out a handful of soldiers to be the designated UAS operators, 3rd ID wants everyone to be familiar with flying a drone, in the way they are all qualified on their rifles.<\/p>\n \u201cPreviously, it was very much a select group of people who were tasked with leveraging this technology to deliver effect,\u201d Shutt said. \u201cNow, every single soldier, from a maintainer to an infantryman to a signal soldier who fixes the radios\u2014all of them kind of have a baseline understanding of how drones work, and could, with the sim time, with a little bit of minimal field training, be able to deliver effects during an operational or training environment.\u201d<\/p>\n