Bumblebee

U.S. Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum have begun training with the Bumblebee V1, a first-person-view counter-drone system that its users are already discovering does considerably more than shoot down enemy unmanned aircraft. The training brought together soldiers from different units across the division to operate a system that Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the Department of War's premier counter-drone organization, partnered with the 10th Mountain to operationally assess. JIATF-401 is evaluating the Bumblebee V1 specifically as a low-cost, attritable air-to-air interceptor, a category of capability the task force has been working to develop and field as drone threats continue to proliferate across every operational environment the Army expects to fight in. The Bumblebee V1 is a multirotor FPV drone designed from the ground up for counter-UAS missions, incorporating automated target recognition that allows it to identify and track hostile drones with limited operator input. That automation is the system's defining characteristic — it frees soldiers from having to manually track a small, fast-moving aerial target through an FPV headset while simultaneously managing everything else a combat environment demands of them. "Countering drones is both a battlefield and a homeland defense imperative," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of JIATF-401. "Training opportunities like this one at 10th Mountain Division enable us to increase counter drone capabilities across the entire joint force to keep pace with this threat," Ross said. "It came to us in a counter unmanned aerial systems capacity, but we're finding that it's more of a multi-role fighter. It can do everything from short-range reconnaissance, to detecting threats on the battlefield, on the ground, in the air," said Lt. Col. Max Ferguson, director of operations for the 10th Mountain Division. "It has the ability to do launched effects, it's classified as a munition, and we can use it as a one way attack, or we can use it to drop ordinance," Ferguson said. A system that arrives as a dedicated counter-drone interceptor and reveals itself to be capable of reconnaissance, one-way attack, and ordnance delivery is a system that changes how small-unit leaders think about what tools they have available at the moment of contact. The soldier-level perspective on what that change means came through directly in how infantrymen described the training. "It gets a lot of guys out of the line of fire, so you're not running into bunkers and fortified positions anymore which makes me feel better, makes everyone feel better," said Spc. Cevyn Jay Paydy, an infantryman assigned to 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. "It is way safer and more viable to hit with drones and other capabilities before going into anything, so I think it totally enhances our ability to do just about any mission," Paydy said. The calculation he is describing is one that armies have been trying to solve since the beginning of warfare: how do you reduce the cost of attacking a defended position? For most of military history, the answer involved accepting casualties on the approach. The answer Paydy is describing involves sending a drone first. "It's a really capable component of a wider system, we have to learn how to integrate it with detection, and integrate those sensors with our maneuver," he said. "This is the beginning of a shift in how we think about a three dimensional fight where drones are common on the battlefield," Ferguson said. That three-dimensional framing matters. Ground combat has always had a vertical dimension — artillery, air support, helicopters — but it has historically required significant resources and coordination to access. A squad or platoon that can independently launch a drone capable of reconnaissance, intercept, and strike without waiting for external support has organic access to the vertical dimension in a way that previous generations of infantry could not claim. Spc. Quentin Martinez, a master trainer assigned to the Multi-Functional Reconnaissance Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, put the tactical logic plainly. "If we are able to eliminate the enemies before friendly forces get there, that's a win for us. We're able to eliminate them without putting friendly lives in danger," Martinez said. The compression of the sensor-to-shooter timeline that the Bumblebee enables at squad and platoon level is the same dynamic that has made larger unmanned systems transformative at higher echelons, applied to the most exposed soldiers in the formation — the ones who historically had to close with and destroy the enemy by crossing ground under fire. The 10th Mountain Division, built around light infantry for operations in difficult terrain, has operated in environments ranging from the mountains of Afghanistan to the jungles of the Pacific. Integrating counter-drone and multi-role UAS capability at the squad level into a formation whose identity is built around small-unit agility and operational adaptability connects directly to what the division has always been designed to do.

Bumblebee

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Bumblebee

U.S. Army trains with new Bumblebee V1 counter-drone interceptor

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About The Defence Blog