Drones are going to be ubiquitous in the coming years, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said last week. The onetime cellphone entrepreneur told a group gathered at Virginia Tech’s Kentland Farm that if he had to start his investing career over, he would be a drone guy.
I wrote about the event in question, a ribbon-cutting for a new counter-drone testing and research facility on the university-owned farm, for Monday’s Cardinal News. For today’s Tech Briefs, I’m writing up some interesting stuff that Warner and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said during gaggles set up after the ribbon-cutting.
There wasn’t enough room for it in Monday’s piece, which focused on the $5 million research contract the university signed with the Army. And with drone-centric wars happening internationally, in Ukraine and Iran, it’s a topic that will be top of mind for a long time.
But first, remember that I’m always up for tips, questions and suggestions, so feel free to email me: tad@cardinalnews.org.
Warner says White House turned down Ukraine’s offer of drone assistance before Iran war
Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters on Friday that the Trump administration in December turned down Ukraine’s offer of drone technology.
“Ukrainians, because of the existential threat [from Russia] have been able to turn around their technology at record speed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is wasting valuable munitions shooting down the cheap drones that Iran is using to attack its Middle Eastern bases and intelligence, he said.
“What’s really angered me is, in four years, we’ve had people testify before the intelligence committee saying, ‘Oh, absolutely, we’ve learned these lessons, and then we start this war of choice with Iran, and we’re using missiles that cost more than $2 million a pop to shoot down Iranian drones.
“And we have only brought the price point down of our counter-drone technology to roughly 60, 70, $80,000 [apiece]. That cannot be done at scale.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine is building counter-drones at $5,000 each, he said. While the British and some Persian Gulf states are flying them, “we are behind,” he said.
“We ought to be able to do the same. … If you’re going to start a war of choice, wouldn’t you want the best in the world to protect your soldiers? We turned it down, so we’re using up more munitions at a record pace.”
Griffith, in a separate interview, deferred to Warner’s understanding about whether the White House turned down Ukrainian help, but said that Ukraine is the clear leader in drone warfare tech, and that “obviously, in retrospect, it might have been an error” to turn down the assistance.
Plenty of Iranian drones and missiles have hit important targets, and multiple news sources have reported destruction in the air and on the ground, including a key Navy logistical hub in Bahrain. Just past the six-month mark in the war, both sides have recently resumed firing at each other.
Griffith floats plan to have Virginia Tech drone program monitor Radford Army Ammunition Plant
Multiple dignitaries took to the dais at Kentland Farm before the ribbon-cutting. Griffith walked up with an idea: Use Virginia Tech’s drone program for occasional patrols over the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.
“Even if we can’t provide 24/7 security over the arsenal right now, anybody who’s looking at that as a target, as a bad guy, has to worry about … maybe they have the Virginia Tech folks flying over doing some experiments,” he told the group.
Later, he told reporters that he has gotten some good feedback about the idea, though it would require cutting the red tape involved with getting permission to fly over the plant just across the river from Kentland.
“I come up with lots of ideas, and every now and then one of them’s good,” he said. “I think this is a good one.”
It would require the Army’s permission, he said. But with the university’s drone library built out and the plant’s location within view, it makes sense to occasionally fly over there, as a deterrent to potential attacks, he added.
“Apply a few test runs through there,” Griffith said. “See what they can detect with their defense systems. Let them [the plant] know in advance they’re doing it. You wouldn’t have to be 24/7, but if you’re using it as a test ground, then the bad guys don’t know … particularly if you didn’t do it on a regular set every Tuesday at 3, but you just did it, whenever. You call them and say, ‘OK, we got them coming in 15 minutes,’ and boom, there they are.”
Maybe the researchers could learn things about patrolling military sites, he said. The Radford plant is mostly civilian-staffed, but there is a small military presence at a “major asset,” he said.
“It’s not like they have to ship all the equipment across the country,” he said. “It’s right there.”
A Virginia Tech spokeswoman said the university didn’t have a comment.
