The U.S. Air Force may need a significant increase in its drone force to help defend Europe, if Russia tries to invade Eastern European nations beyond Ukraine.
Dedicated close air support (CAS) has been low on the list of Air Force modernization priorities, and the service is divesting its A-10 Warthog fleet, as top service officials and some in Congress, such as Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), have said that other aircraft, such as Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built F-16s and stealthy F-35s, as well as bombers, are able to provide CAS at higher altitudes and less danger to aircrews than the durable, low-and-slow A-10s.
“Given the characteristics and geography of Europe, close air support would be essential to any battle that we found ourselves in, if we unfortunately got to that point, and it’ll be important to show that we have that capability as a deterrent to help us not get there,” Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the Joint Staff’s director of operations and the nominee to become the new head of U.S. European Command, testified during a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing on Tuesday in response to a question from Kelly on CAS. Kelly is the ranking member of SASC’s airland panel.
“If we’re using traditional aircraft to execute this mission, I do need those aircraft to be survivable in a much more densely protected–from an air defense perspective–environment, and we see that in Ukraine where neither side is able to get close air support into the battlefield in a traditional sense because of the air defense,” Grynkewich said.
“So they have resorted to less traditional means of close air support using first person view drones, one-way attack drones, etc., and I think we need to look at both of those aspects of the future battlefield,” he said.
Asked by SASC Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) for his assessment of those options, Grynkewich replied, “Some of those alternatives are proving to be extremely lethal on the battlefield in Ukraine, and the pace of innovation on both sides of the equation has shown that smaller drones, precisely maneuvered with lethal payloads can have a devastating effect on enemy forces on the front line at much less [financial] expense.”
Nearly a decade ago, then Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said that the Air Force should buy a new close air support aircraft, but, as drone technology has advanced, the calls for an A-10 replacement–the latter already at odds with service opinions that CAS should be an Army, not Air Force funding responsibility—have died down (Defense Daily, Sept. 15, 2015).
At Tuesday’s SASC hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) referenced reports that Ukraine is building 4.5 million drones this year, compared to 100,000 in the U.S.
“Clearly, in my view, the United States is not producing enough drones,” he said. “We are not supporting the industries that produce those drones as much as we should.”
Wicker agreed and said that “it’s hard to understand how we go forward without increasing our rate.”