Uncrewed systems are 'changing the character of war': top USSOCOM officials
NewsMay 07, 2024
SOF WEEK 2024 -- TAMPA BAY, Florida. The rapidly evolving world of uncrewed systems has upended modern warfare and is leading to generational changes on the battlefield in a matter of months rather than decades, top U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) officials said at SOF Week.
In a joint keynote address Tuesday, USSOCOM Commander Bryan P. Fenton and Command Sergeant Major Shane W. Shorter warned of a "David and Goliath" dynamic where smaller actors are more dangerous with access to rapidly evolving uncrewed systems that are affordable at their disposal.
"When you think about a 'great power' war, you think about a large state over here and a large state over there, and they have exquisitely expensive equipment, and they're going back and forth and whoever has the best exquisitely expensive equipment ... is going to be the winner," Shorter said. But today, uncrewed systems have upended that dynamic.
Shorter noted that in 1991, he was still outfitted with equipment similar to what was used in the Vietnam War decades before. In contrast, the battlefield of today changes in a matter of months.
"When you think about one-way strike, when you think about loitering munitions, when you think about swarming, when you think about 3D printing -- that has truly changed the character of war for the future," Shorter said.
Artificial intelligence is also contributing to this rapid shift. "Whatever you know about artificial intelligence 6 months ago, forget about it," Fenton said. "It's just moving at such a rate of speed. ... It's pretty frightening."
This will make Special Operations Forces all the more essential in the future, Shorter said.
"I think we're going to be a larger answer in the wars of the future," he said.
The challenge for SOCOM will be to figure out how to rapidly produce and field uncrewed systems rather than rely on larger, bespoke platforms that take years to develop, Shorter said.
"I think it's going to be that affordable mass that is going to play [a big role]," he said.
