Poor Man's Air Force

A guide to how small drones might be used in domestic unrest or low intensity conflicts

By: Don Shift

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are changing the tactical landscape of warfare. The use of drones in conflicts has the potential to alter centuries of ground warfare in the same way as disruptive technologies like smokeless powder, the repeating firearm, tanks, and radios did in the past. Not just a rhetorical discussion of drone warfare, this book looks at practical usage by the prepared citizen, partisan, and soldier.

In 2022, Ukrainian use of modified consumer-grade drones for attack surprised the world who had only really seen them used in intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance roles. Lurid videos of grenades being dropped on unaware troops heralds a terrifying new reality in warfare: the poor man’s air force. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are bringing an aerial observation and attack capacity to forces, large and small, that have never had such an advantage before. From warfare, to terrorism, and even self-defense, we have only seen the cusp of what drones can do.

Quadcopters have taken aerial hunting and attacks out of the domain of scout helicopters and delivered it to the squad and individual level. In future conflicts, be they full-scale international wars, civil wars, or domestic unrest, use of drones will be commonplace. Their ease of use will make killing easier, enabling those who cannot or would not be soldiers or insurgents to participate in violence. Drones are a new threat as IEDs were and will be used in similar ways to both sniper attacks and bombings against civilian, military, and government targets.

Thanks to their inherent intelligence gathering nature and developing attack capabilities, drones have the ability to level the playing field or dramatically tilt in favor of the side with aerial assets. In a civil conflict or during the aftermath of a major destabilizing event, drones will play a huge part in both self-defense and any violence. Proliferation of small unmanned aerial systems will occur rapidly, so their potential impact and use in small paramilitary, irregular, and civilian hands deserves examination.

Part I: Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

• Characteristics, utility, and vulnerabilities
• Drone swarms and should an average person fear being killed by a drone?
• What can UAS do for you?: Detailed examples of potential UAS applications
• Psychological operations and effects
• Asymmetric threats of UAS
• What Northern Ireland can tell us about the threat of airborne IEDs
• Lessons From Ukraine

Part II: Defense

• Drone Defense: Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (CUAS)
• Electronic Drone Detection
• Electronic warfare: jamming and spoofing
• Drone guns, electronic and small arms
• Air guards and drone spotting
• Infrared/Thermal Camouflage, including tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP)
• Surviving the UAS Threat on the Ground
• Vehicles and Convoys Under UAS Threat

Part III: Offense

• ISTAR-Intelligence, Surveillance, Targeting, and Reconnaissance
• Kill Chain
• Security operations
• UAS Pilot and Flight Tradecraft
• Residential security operations
• Standard Operating Procedures for UAS Pilots
• Autonomous flight
• UAS Mission Planning for Pilots
• Route planning and terrain analysis for flightpaths
• Aircraft threat profile and enemy UAS threat assessment
• Attack of the Drones: weaponization and drone combat
• Anti-armor/vehicle tactics
• Extremely low altitude (ELA) flight and terrain masking