When a tactical drone is lost in a contested environment, the physical destruction of the airframe is secondary to the catastrophic loss of the intelligence it carried. The Army’s “no blood” mandate for shaping first contact, as reinforced by ATP 3-90.51, relies entirely on the proper deployment of uncrewed systems. However, executing this doctrine in a DDIL environment is impossible if the intelligence gathered is trapped on an isolated commercial controller. However, as the modern battlefield becomes saturated with small drones and UAS operating in highly contested, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) environments, the data these systems collect is increasingly vulnerable - and immensely valuable. Yet, as the Army rapidly accelerates the procurement of commercial off-the-shelf platforms (COTS), we are fielding an array of high-tech sensors that struggle to communicate collectively in near real time to support timely CCIR-related decision-making.

The aerodynamic merits, payload capacities, or kinetic lethality of the individual Class 1 and 2 drones currently flooding the newly established Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) Marketplace are not the crux of this opinion article. Instead, the intent is to focus exclusively on the digital connective tissue, the data backbone, necessary to secure, manage, and translate the massive data exhaust these UAS platforms generate. For years, the Army has dreamed of an interconnected web of uncrewed platforms capable of diminishing the fog of war and accelerating tactical decision-making. However, to actually achieve this vision and solve the sUAS tactical trifecta of Airspace Command and Control (AC2), rapid clearance of fires, and a unified Common Operational Picture (COP) informed by actionable intelligence, the Army must rethink treating drone hardware as isolated islands and instead mandate a resilient, horizontal data integration layer at the tactical edge regardless of the platform classification.