US army's new fascom: Flytrap tests counter-drone warfare on NATO'S Eastern Flank

America's war with Iran has exposed a costly vulnerability in modern warfare. Dozens of American aircraft have been lost. They've been damaged. That includes 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones. And now the U.S. military is accelerating a major structural transformation, perhaps its biggest in decades. They've created a new autonomous warfare command with robotic combat formations and cheaper counter-drone weapons at the center of its next warfare strategy. Watch my first report on Defense Pulse. The war against Iran has come at a heavy cost for American air power. According to recent Congressional Research Service figures, at least 81 U.S. military aircraft have been damaged or lost. They include 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones, F-15E fighters, and KC-135 refueling aircraft. The estimated equipment replacement bill runs into billions of dollars. And the conflict has reinforced a critical lesson. Expensive military platforms remain vulnerable to drones and missiles that can be produced and deployed at scale. Now, Washington is changing how its army prepares for the next battlefield. The U.S. Army has now announced the Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, or FASCOM. Led by a three-star general, the command will bring together research, development, experimentation and autonomous warfare planning. A dedicated acquisition executive will also be responsible for accelerating procurement. The objective is to move beyond simply adding drones to existing units. The U.S. Army wants to redesign entire formations around autonomous capabilities. The first experiments will include autonomous artillery batteries, robotic armored reconnaissance, and uncrewed logistics. Attack helicopter pilots will also test controlling drone sensors to identify targets beyond their direct line of sight. But autonomous offensive systems are only half the story. The U.S. Army is also accelerating its defenses against enemy drones. In September, it awarded its first production contract for the enduring high-energy laser system. It has also tested low-cost Bumblebee drone interceptors and selected Lockheed Martin's Grizzly counter-drone system after competitive trials. And through Project Flytrap in Europe, American and allied troops are testing drones, electronic warfare, and AI-enabled battlefield networks together. The strategic shift can't be missed. The U.S. Army is preparing for a battlefield where robots support soldiers, drones threaten expensive weapons, and speed of adaptation can determine the overall outcome of war. And joining us now is Major General Mick Ryan. He's served for over 35 years. He has also served as a strategist on the United States Joint Staff in the Pentagon. He recently published a detailed assessment of the Pentagon's Project Agincourt. and its plans to establish a new autonomous warfare command. General Ryan, welcome to Defense Pulse. Thank you so much for making time for us. Sir, going by your experience and your research, the U.S. Army, it's now, well, it now calls it the Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, FASCOM. Do you find this the biggest structural change in American land warfare in decades? Or is this the U.S. simply catching up with the change which was perhaps long due? Well, thank you. It's great to be with you. I think it's probably both. I mean, the US is following what Ukraine has done with its unmanned systems force, which was the first independent drone service in the world. And whilst the Autonomous Systems Command, it's a combatant command of the new army, FASCOM, are not independent services, they may get there. This is all about pushing new and transformational capabilities into older combined arms organisations. General Ryan, take us through the nuances. What's the most significant change here in the new autonomous warfare command? Is it going to be the technology, the way that the army will fight, it will adapt, or the speed at which it can now acquire new weapons? Well, the most important thing is these commands will provide advocacy for autonomous systems, which traditional command and control in armies, navies, and air force have not been very good at in many Western military organizations, including the United States and my own country that have required their own command and leadership to be advocates but also to oversee standardized training the technological development as well as the systemic learning and fast adaptation to ensure that not just the technology changes and evolves with evolving battlefield needs but training and tactics change at a very fast speed as well. General Ryan, one can't miss the fact that the Iran war had a role to play in the way this new command has now come about in the US Army. The Iran war, it exposed the cost of losing expensive aircraft and drones and, of course, missiles as well. Is this new command an admission of the US military's shortcomings in the ongoing war? I think it's partially that. The US military had formed Task Force Scorpion before February 2026, and it was using the Lucas drones. But at the end of the day, they were caught short with drone defences, which was, you know, the Iranians using Shaheds was entirely predictable, and the Americans appeared to be defenceless against them. So this, I think, is a response to that failure, to be able to protect themselves against these Iranian drones, but also to ensure that in future the Americans are the ones damaging others with drones and it's not happening to them. General, let me just go a little off this. Shahids were already in use in the Russia-Ukraine battlefront. Everyone understands where the Shahids come from. It's not as if the U.S. Army or the U.S. forces did not know that they are going to face these projectiles coming towards them as well. Was it overconfidence or a lack of estimation of what the Iranians will be capable of with their Shahids that they already know are being deployed? No, you're dead right. It was entirely predictable and entirely foreseen. And, you know, the Americans and everyone else has known about drone interceptors for at least two years. I think this was a gross failure of humility in the U.S. as well as Western military organizations who have looked at Ukraine and said, well, we'd never fight like that. And the reality is we are all going to have to fight like that in the future. Right. Coming back to the U.S. Army's plans to experiment, They're saying that they're going to be experimenting with autonomous artillery, robotic armoured reconnaissance. Then there are uncrewed logistics as well. Which of these, in your opinion, could transform ground warfare first and which faces the biggest obstacles operationally? Well, I think having drones across all three domains is going to be important for the army. It's going to need aerial drones for reconnaissance, for surveillance and for strike at short, medium and long range. and also to saturate enemy airspaces and deny them the use of drones on the ground environment that's a much harder one to really crack for drones but the Ukrainians have done it so things like logistics support uh casualty evacuation uh direct and indirect fires reconnaissance and electronic warfare will be important missions for ground drones and uh General Ryan on Defense Pulse We track the developments coming in from all around the world. It's almost on every second day basis that we hear of new laser-based weapons being developed in the U.S. by the private sector to take down low-cost drones. And that really tells you how the U.S. is now trying to transform its systems. The U.S., it is investing in lasers, electronic warfare, low-cost interceptor drones. What's the most practical way to defeat mass drone attacks without spending millions to destroy weapons that cost only thousands? Well, unfortunately, there's no silver bullet in warfare and there is not with counter-drone warfare and it requires a layered defence, multiple layers of sensors to be able to detect and track these things to ascertain the best place, time and means to intercept them and then layers of different forms of interception. Some might be low-cost 40mm rockets that are now being turned into drone interceptors. some might use 30 or 40 or even 50 millimeter weapons to intercept them some might use drone interceptors and now we're seeing the Israelis have actually deployed a laser weapon to intercept rockets and drones and the U.S. Army will clearly follow that very very quickly General China is is also developing its own autonomous military systems some we know of some we don't and it's The development is happening at scale, that is for sure. Could the new U.S. command help America regain that advantage? And what should countries like India and Australia learn from this transformation? Well, I hope it does. And I think countries like Australia and India will hopefully have liaison officers embedded in the U.S. Army, as well as the combatant command the Americans are setting up, and then set up similar commands themselves to be at the leading edge of drone warfare for their own countries, be that in India or Australia, be it, you know, augmenting air force, navies and armies in those countries. And finally, Project Flytrap, through it, the U.S. Army is testing how to maneuver under constant enemy drone surveillance. Can the larger armored vehicles, can tanks and large infantry formations still survive on a battlefield where almost every movement can be detected and targeted? well they they still have a role but it's very different than what the Indian Army or my army or the U.S. Army probably imagined for them five or ten years ago what the Ukrainians have found is it takes days weeks or even months of suppression of any enemy drones to then be able to use armored vehicles in small numbers the reality is modern armored vehicles are very large so they have large physical signatures they have large heat signatures and they have large electromagnetic signatures, the shaping of the environment for a vehicle like that is very different now and much more complicated than it's ever been. General, we've often heard that no two wars are the same, but the way the last five years have redefined how battlefields operate and the challenges that emerge and how developments are taking place, learning from those battlefields in real time, it's really setting the tone of what's to come next. The next five years are going to perhaps completely redefine this even further. Thank you so much for helping us understand this latest development that's coming from the US. That was General Ryan joining us from Brisbane. Thank you.