TAMPA, Fla. — The annual Special Operations Forces Week is underway in Tampa, where military contractors from around the world gathered to showcase the latest in defense technology.
One of the biggest focuses at the convention was drones. From air to ground to water, drones were everywhere on display, highlighting the growing role they play in modern warfare.
“Drones are a total paradigm shift — it’s a new world,” said Will Maeya, CEO of Adler Aerospace.
Maeya’s company builds several types of drones, including systems currently being used on the battlefield in Ukraine. He said the drone industry is expanding rapidly and changing the future of combat.
“It’s basically lowered the barrier to entry for anyone wanting the effectiveness of an air force,” Maeya said. “I’ve seen countries investing millions of dollars and getting trillions of dollars of benefit. We see it in Ukraine, where they are producing a thousand drones a day, and 90% of the casualties are now all drone-related between Ukraine and Russia. It’s pretty much the future in terms of warfare.”
Drones have become a major part of recent conflicts, from Iran to Ukraine.
“No more tanks and people shooting at each other. It’s going to be drone-on-drone moving forward, like Terminator,” Maeya said.
Bryan Stern, founder of Grey Bull Rescue, said his organization has seen firsthand how drones are reshaping the battlefield.
“We conduct missions in denied areas,” Stern said. “We’ve done a lot of work in Ukraine, a lot of work in Israel, Iran, Syria, Lebanon — the modern battlespace.”
Stern said small, inexpensive drones have had an especially significant impact because they are easy to use.
“There is not a lot of risk if you are the enemy in using drones because they are cheap, they are easy, they are extremely effective,” Stern said.
He also emphasized the importance of counter-drone technology.
“Counter-drone is mission critical to all the formations within special operations,” Stern said. “Being able to deploy drones so we can find, finish, collect, analyze against the bad guys, but also to be able to protect the force from enemy drones.”
Besides the display of drones, other companies are showing off their counter-drone technology.
“Our system tracks and mitigates drones. There is a huge threat going around with drones right now,” said Zohar Elbaz of Sentrycs.
The company has developed drone-detecting technology that can be used for everything from securing military bases to protecting large public events.
“We have our system in the middle that can create a no-fly zone,” Elbaz said. “Our system can detect the drone automatically. We have a DJI drone and a Parrot that are being detected.”
As drone technology continues to evolve, industry leaders say there is little doubt drones will remain a crucial part of the modern battlefield.