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The Australian Army has announced plans to field a fully integrated first-person-view strike drone combat team for Talisman Sabre 2027.
The initiative is reportedly being led by Army’s 5/7RAR as a trial alongside other additional capabilities such as reconnaissance drones and unmanned ground vehicles.
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Alpha Company has spent the year training and qualifying soldiers in RAS, trialling and acquiring equipment, and developing procedures for light infantry.
Next year, those specialists will integrate back into other rifle companies, creating Army’s first RAS-ready battle group, with plans to spread those skills to the rest of 1 Bde and beyond.
Commanding Officer 5/7RAR Lt-Col Ash Zimmerlie said robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) would not replace soldiers, who would still patrol, infiltrate and conduct offensive and defensive operations, but would instead enhance those functions.
“We will simply be more agile and lethal,” Lt-Col Zimmerlie said.
“If we want to stay in the game and stay in the fight, we need to keep pace with the accelerating and changing character of war,” Lt-Col Zimmerlie said.
“All of our peer adversaries and allies have adopted this technology, and we must do the same.”
While the brigade is responsible for offensive RAS capabilities, 7 Bde is also working on counter-RAS technologies.
Separating development allows for a more efficient trial and integration phase, with both capabilities to be shared across Army once established, according to Lt-Col Zimmerlie.
OC Alpha Company, Maj Nic Alexandrou, said the widespread use and effectiveness of drones in current conflicts was shocking.
“Concealing and protecting vehicles, emplacements and high-value hardware is going to be a pressing challenge moving forward as RAS-enabled dismounted patrols become exceedingly lethal,” Maj Alexandrou said.
Recently, on Exercise Black Prince, 5/7RAR worked with Army’s experimentation unit, 1 Armd Regt, demonstrating FPV drone strikes at ranges well beyond what typical off-the-shelf drones can achieve.
Pte Jack Pilgrim, one of the 5/7RAR FPV operators, said strike teams could provide commanders with strike ambush approaches, reconnaissance spotting targets ahead of a patrol or even anti-armour capability.
“With the right equipment, we can sit ages away and drop multiple FPVs on targets in minutes, and they’ll have no idea where they came from,” Pte Pilgrim said.
“(Due to drones, camouflaging a position) It’s more difficult and there’s more involved, but the same fundamentals of concealment still apply,” he said.
“You just have to acknowledge there will be cameras in the sky that can see very well at night.”
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