Five Marine Corps bases will host drone competitions to test Marine teams from across the fleet on "hunter-killer" drone employment, speed and agility, with the first event occurring at Quantico, Virginia, in November, according to a service message last week and a Marine Corps spokesperson.
The Marine Corps is calling on units across the fleet to stand up their own drone teams to participate in competitions at these installations located around the world starting this year, a massive step the service says will foster a new culture around unmanned systems as it races to build its drone repertoire.
All Marine Corps units can participate. The teams will consist of at least six Marines, including one officer, a staff noncommissioned officer and four first-person-view drone operators who need to be approved by their command to participate, pass a drone operator physical and "possess the maturity and competence to safely" fly the drones, the message said.
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Service leaders and experts have said in recent months that this type of competition will give more Marines the chance to get their hands on drones and test emerging capabilities in a way that accelerates the Corps' ability to fight future conflicts as the war in Ukraine rages on and rivals such as China, Russia and Iran have ramped up their own unmanned fleets.
"There is a clear recognition that the competition model closes the traditional gap between warfighter and drone capability -- moving traditional, bureaucratic requirements and acquisitions process[es] to the sideline," Nathan Ecelbarger, the president of the United States National Drone Association, or USNDA, told Military.com on Wednesday.
The service established the Marine Corps Attack Drone Team, or MCADT, in January, which has become the epicenter of the amphibious branch's tactical unmanned systems effort. Ecelbarger described the team as "first to fight" in the competition model, but added that other services are expected to soon announce their own competitive teams.
The MCADT will compete in the first "Drone Crucible Championship" against the 75th Ranger Regiment's team this summer, which is expected to further inform the fleet on best practices and requirements to field teams across the force. The event will be hosted by the USNDA in Florida.
"This is a different type of competition we're building from the ground up; it isn't as simple as a 'service volleyball team' where we can copy and paste traditional rules," Ecelbarger said. "Competition for the sake of competition isn't the end state; it's the means to the end state," which is "accelerating the warfighting capabilities of the nation."
He added the USNDA is developing two different efforts across the Department of Defense, which include the Drone Competition Program, where all service members can test and build their skills, and the Drone Crucible Program, where "pro teams" from the services will go head to head while engaging simulated enemy squads and convoys, as well as aerial and maritime targets.
Units that want to participate in the fleet-wide competitions, which are in conjunction with the service's marksmanship competitions, need to get their drones approved by the MCADT. Those drones need to be "man-packable," meaning they can be carried by Marines to the competition, under 20 pounds, built with law-compliant parts and under $2,000, not including goggles, controllers, radios or other supporting equipment, the message said.
Marine Corp Bases Quantico; Butler in Japan; Hawaii; Camp Pendleton in California; and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina are charged with hosting regional competitions and need to start deconflicting frequencies, ranges and other logistics for the events that will occur throughout the next year, according to the message. Maj. Hector Infante, a service spokesperson, said the USNDA is not involved with the planning and coordination of those events at this time.
The message also announced a "Summer Augment Program," which will include high-performing Marines across the force participating in competitions between April and August with the MCADT, with the potential to be recruited onto the team full time.
Ecelbarger said that while services are working through the logistics of setting up their competitive programs, individual troops should be getting "stick time," or practice with drones in commercial simulators or in civilian competitions. They should also study "every single piece of literature and research coming out of Ukraine."
"As soon as you're done reading, you aren't finished," he added. "Something new has emerged. Embrace the mindset of checking your own assumptions."
Marine leaders and experts alike have described numerous challenges in building military drone capabilities. Those include the slow acquisition process as new technologies proliferate and units working with or around existing policies so troops can schedule range time, coordinate air space and frequencies, or navigate what is commercially available but compliant with the law.
"We can't afford to close our grasp around today's shiny capability while tomorrow's countermeasure is lost, just out of reach, ready to be employed by our adversaries," Ecelbarger said.
Related: Marine Corps Drone Team Competitions Are Coming to a Unit Near You Soon
