US defense firms need to “stop selling us pieces of the puzzle” and work more closely together to counter threats around areas like drones and Artificial Intelligence, a top US general said.
Gen. Jim Rainey, the head of Army Futures Command, discussed emerging threats and the US military’s capacity to counter them in an episode of the War on the Rocks podcast, released on Wednesday.
The deployment of AI in warfare and drones are “the biggest two places we need to close the ground quickly,” he said.
Rainey identified technologies like microwaves, lasers, and electronic warfare as ways to counter these threats, but said weak spots remained and called for the defense industry to “self-organize” to identify solutions.
“What we really need is people to quit trying to sell us pieces of the puzzle, and somebody to pull that team together with the sum of those capabilities,” he said.
Drones have emerged as a key weapon in the war in Ukraine, where both Russia and Ukraine have used them for surveillance and fitted them with bombs to be used as remotely-controlled explosives.
China and the US are also experimenting with sophisticated AI-enabled drones that can operate independently of human control, including some that can be deployed as part of a “swarm,” operating autonomously and in coordination.
The Pentagon has been urgently seeking ways to combat drones, with then-US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin releasing a counter-drone strategy in December.
Private sector companies, including the likes of California-based Anduril, are also rolling out new tech solutions.
In his remarks, Rainey called for “a bunch of companies to come together, go find the best high-power microwave guy or two, get the best radar people,” and then bring them together into an “integrated, data-centric AI-driven capability.”
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