In the modern battlespace there are drones or there are targets, and it’s now time for the New Zealand Army’s leaders to make some decisions and take some risks, writes former New Zealand Army Officer Graeme Doull.

Cheap, mass-produced drones are transforming warfare as profoundly as the machine gun did in World War I and tanks and combined-arms tactics did in World War II. Yet the New Zealand Army largely lacks them.

Here are the five immediate actions New Zealand’s Army needs to take:

5. Stop treating small drones as crewed aircraft – they don’t need the same airworthiness standards as piloted platforms

4. Treat low-cost drones as consumables, not ‘A Class’ stores. Procure at scale, accept loss and attrition, and enable soldiers to break and lose them.

3. Remove safety requirements for light, unarmed systems. Lightweight drones, used for reconnaissance, are really no different from those flown unsupervised by young kids at the park.

2. Apply proportionate controls for armed systems. Weapons require safety controls. Set up templates, no different to other weapon systems. The Army knows how to do this.

1. Buy them – at scale, now – and put them in soldiers’ hands.  Connect industry with front line units.  Make sure that funding gets spent on drones – not project managers or policy. 

The Army’s leaders and innovators – its Officer Corps – should step up and show leadership, make some decisions and take some risks.  In the modern battlespace there are drones or there are targets. If we don’t equip our soldiers with the right systems, the consequences will be lethal.