![\"Drones\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Army-Drone-678x381.jpg\" "\\"Army-Drone\\"\/")
\nDecision time on drones. Image: Unsplash.<\/p>\n
\nDecision time on drones. Image: Unsplash.<\/p>\n
In the modern battlespace there are drones or there are targets, and it\u2019s now time for the New Zealand Army\u2019s leaders to make some decisions and take some risks, writes\u00a0former New Zealand Army Officer\u00a0Graeme Doull.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Here are the five immediate actions New Zealand\u2019s Army needs to take:<\/p>\n
5. Stop treating small drones as crewed aircraft \u2013 they don\u2019t need the same airworthiness standards as piloted platforms<\/p>\n
4. Treat low-cost drones as consumables, not \u2018A Class\u2019 stores. Procure at scale, accept loss and attrition, and enable soldiers to break and lose them.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
1. Buy them \u2013 at scale, now \u2013 and put them in soldiers\u2019 hands.\u00a0 Connect industry with front line units.\u00a0 Make sure that funding gets spent on drones \u2013 not project managers or policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Army\u2019s leaders and innovators \u2013 its Officer Corps \u2013 should step up and show leadership, make some decisions and take some risks.\u00a0 In the modern battlespace there are drones or there are targets. If we don\u2019t equip our soldiers with the right systems, the consequences will be lethal.<\/p>\n