Letter from the Guest Editors
Tahmina Karimova and Larry Walzer
We live in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape where unmanned and autonomous systems, with their diverse functionalities across land, air, sea, and space, are both a boon and a challenge. These advanced technologies have accelerated progress, provided strategic and tactical advantages, minimized risks, and maximized operational efficiency. However, they have also introduced new complications, including exploitation by adversarial powers and constraints arising from ethical, legal, regulatory, and safety frameworks. These factors are reshaping global security dynamics and presenting new realities in defense.
Foreword
Lawrence Walzer, Center on Combating Hybrid Threats, US NPS
The ever-expanding role of unmanned and autonomous platforms in conflict—whether hybrid, gray zone, or conventional—presents both opportunities and challenges for the United States and its allies. While we stay ahead of our adversaries in key drone capabilities, the numbers alone are daunting: China has more than a million drones, and its growth remains on an upward trend. Although our defense dollars far outpace China, China continues to close the overall lethality gap on multiple fronts, including the unmanned and autonomous systems (UAS) space. UAS is an important growth area in modern warfare, one where it is imperative to maintain the advantage, especially as it relates to counter-drone operations.
Uncrewed and Autonomous Systems: Seeking Legal Clarity
Kristen Fletcher, Marina Lesse, Rebecca Grippo, and Theresa Milio, US NPS
Uncrewed systems (UxS) serve as an integral part of the naval force structure and their use will likely increase during this century.[1] There are pressing law and policy questions related to UxS that the US Department of Defense and US Department of the Navy will have to answer as they continue to expand the use and development of such rapidly evolving systems.
Rogues with Robots: Malign Actors and Drones in an Age of Hybrid Conflict
Scott Moreland, Institute for Security Governance, Defense Security Cooperation University
Preventing An Inevitable Threat: Dealing with Drones
Major Ian McAlpine, US Army Special Forces
The threat of drone attacks by state and non-state actors is ever present and growing. Drones, or unmanned aerial systems (UAS), are cheap, expendable, and networkable, and are able to execute a myriad of kinetic and non-kinetic attacks on military and civilian targets. The United States and other nations face challenges in protecting their personnel and infrastructure from drone threats due to the ease with which drones can penetrate even the most robustly integrated air defenses.
Lessons from Ukraine and the Red Sea on Autonomous Systems and the Future of the US Navy
Cecilia Panella, Saronic Technologies, and Lieutenant Christopher Mears, US Navy
America’s role in the world is increasingly contested. Living in a multi-polar world with technologically competitive and strategically aggressive near-peer adversaries forces the United States to confront two uncomfortable truths. First, the American Navy is not the presumptive preferred maritime partner in peacetime or in competition—compelling counteroffers from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Russian Federation (RF), Iran, and their proxy entities use levers of economic and political warfare to exact gains. Second, new and emergent technologies have democratized warfare and thus challenge the US Navy’s ability to cultivate and project power at will.
Strengthening Ally and Partner Collaboration in the Unmanned Systems Realm
Major Arian Sopiqoti, Albanian Ministry of Defense, and Zachary Klein, US NPS
Humans may be flawed creatures, but we still generally solve most of our differences without bombing each other. A successful measure to avoid resorting to bombs is “collective security,” which means that a group of humans is more formidable than any given individual.[1] To take the idea further, it means that if small nations are facing a more powerful opponent, it makes sense for them to pool their resources for mutual defense in the form of an alliance.
The CTX Interview: Colonel Omar Rabling Valdez, Mexican Army interviewed by Colonel Ian Rice, CTX Editorial Review Board
Colonel Omar Rabling Valdez, Mexican Army
On November 29, 2023, Colonel Omar Rabling Valdez of the Mexican Army sat down for an interview with CTX Editorial Review Board member Colonel Ian Rice.[1] During their discussion, Colonel Valdez offered valuable insights into the critical role unmanned systems play in modern geopolitics, drawing from his extensive experience in Special Forces operations.