U.S. Air Force Chief Weighs In on Drone Employment in Ukraine, Middle East and Western Pacific | Aviation

At the recent Military Reporters and Editors Conference in Washington D.C., U.S. Air Force chief General David Allvin differentiated between the emergence of drones in various flashpoints like Ukraine, the Middle East, the Pacific, saying how unmanned systems across these theaters are not necessarily comparable.

While acknowledging their military utility in Europe and West Asia, their application in the western Pacific against China is “different.” Air and Space Forces quoted Gen. Allvin: “The appearance of rapidly replicable, low-cost, mass airborne platforms offers both a threat and opportunity.”

Allvin distinguished between the simple and cheap unmanned systems that have posed an asymmetric challenge to Western coalition warships in the Red Sea, as well as Ukrainian and Russian military equipment in Ukraine, and the significantly sophisticated CCAs (Collaborative Combat Aircraft) that would be required to fight the PRC (People’s Republic of China).

The General cautioned against replicating the systems in Ukraine and immediately using them in the maritime theater in far-east Asia, as they would have to be customized for…