CHARLIE D'AGATA:
00:00:27
Drones now dominate the battlefields of Ukraine and Russia with increasing accuracy, while in the Middle East, Iran has launched thousands toward American facilities across the Gulf. Any strike element, this is Chaos 4-6.
CHARLIE D'AGATA:
00:00:42
The US military is far behind in the drone race, and US soldiers have worked directly with Ukrainians, who have mastered the art, which is why the decision to phase out the specialized unmanned assault battalion, based in Germany, is causing concern, says CBS News contributor, Aaron MacLean. This kind of technology is going to play a central role. And, again, figuring out exactly what that meant and how to integrate that into the US Army's way of doing business was the mission of this new unit.
CHARLIE D'AGATA:
00:01:11
That new unit, which trained with Ukrainians, was designed to deploy anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. The Pentagon said the unit would be refocused on its core war-fighting task, and there are other drone-specific programs underway. US Army captain Ronan Sefton told 60 Minutesthis spring that lessons drawn from the Ukrainians have been absolutely vital.
RONAN SEFTON:
00:01:34
The first really poignant lesson for us was there needs to be more drones. They need to be everywhere, involved in the training, to add to the realism.
CHARLIE D'AGATA:
00:01:42
The Ukrainians produce 6 million drones a year and the Russians hundreds of thousands per month, while the US is planning to purchase more than 200,000 by next year. Some of the president's allies have raised alarm over the military's preparedness on drones. Senate Armed Services chairman Roger Wicker said the US drone industry and the Pentagon are years behind the curve. And a sign of where things stand-- in a mock drone battle between US and Ukrainian forces last spring, sources say the Americans were soundly defeated. Tony? Not good. Charlie, thank you very much.
