Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Use in Army Brigade Combat Teams: Increasing Effectiveness Across the Spectrum of Conflict.

One of the major strengths of the U.S. Army conventional force, and its doctrinal methods, is the ability to conduct operational and tactical maneuver out of contact with an enemy force. This allows the U.S. to decide the time, place, and conditions of contact. Under this system national, strategic, and operational intelligence systems generate, analyze, and disseminate intelligence to maneuver units. When major conventional operations conclude, or in operations where they never take place, conventional forces transition to Stability Operations and Support Operations (SASO). Conducting SASO operations generally requires extensive interaction with, and conducting operations among, a local populace. The necessary physical interaction with a local populace causes two significant problems for conventional forces: traditional intelligence assets (national, strategic, operational) are largely irrelevant to the operations U.S. forces conduct, and interacting with a local population whenever outside of a FOB affects the actions of the population. In military operations other than conventional combat, intelligence must be generated from the lowest possible tactical level, something conventional forces are not organized or equipped to do. Proliferating Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) Platoons throughout Army Brigade Combat Team’s (BCTs) subordinate battalions will enable commanders to gather the tactical intelligence necessary for success.