Every Marine a Drone Operator: The New Frontier of the US Army

On January 3, 2025, the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, officially established the Marine Corps Attack Drone Team (MCADT), marking a turning point in the operational evolution of the United States Marine Corps. The birth of the new team was signed by Major General Anthony M. Henderson, Commander of the Training Command, and Brigadier General Simon M. Doran, head of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory.

The initiative stems from the growing awareness of the threat posed by armed first-person view drones (first person view, or FPV), which have emerged as a crucial weapon in recent conflicts, particularly in Eastern Europe. Viral images from the Ukrainian front, showing small, inexpensive drones being used with lethality and precision, have also raised alarm among Pentagon leaders.

At Quantico, Colonel Scott Cuomo, commander of the Weapons Training Battalion, was personally charged with developing a program that could replicate the historical effectiveness of the Marine Corps Shooting Team, active for over a century, but applied to the aerial and technological domain of drones.

Il MCADT si propone come centro di eccellenza per l’integrazione tattica dei droni armati all’interno della Fleet Marine Force (FMF). The team is not limited to training and testing, but will also represent the Marine Corps in joint, national and international competitions, such as the Military Drone Crucible Championship which will be held in Florida between June 30 and July 3, 2025, with the participation of elite units such as the 75th Ranger Regiment.

2. Training, Innovation and Skills: The Precision Model

The MCADT will be located right at the Weapons Training Battalion of Quantico, taking advantage of the synergy with the Precision Weapons Section and the legacy of the Shooting Team, which has always been a pillar of the Marines' precision shooting culture. The mission is clear: to integrate lessons learned in modern conflicts and transmit concrete operational skills through training, competitions and tactical development.

According to Major Alejandro Tavizon, commander of the battalion's headquarters company and head of the MCADT, "our goal is to provide the Marines with organic attack capabilities with FPV drones, which until now have been lacking, to increase the lethality of small units." This translates into a series of targeted activities: development of training courses, testing of new technologies, analysis of competition results and constant redefinition of employment tactics.

A key consideration is affordability. The FPV drones used, many of which are built in the lab directly by the Marines, can be assembled for a few hundred dollars. As Cuomo points out, “we can build an effective system for $2,000, capable of hitting targets at 15 kilometers, while a single Javelin missile costs over $200,000 with a range of only 2.5 kilometers.”

Not only that. Each drone can be equipped with different payloads – anti-personnel, anti-material, anti-tank – offering unprecedented operational flexibility. This scalability allows the ability to strike well beyond the range of a standard assault rifle, making each rifle team a much more lethal, cost-effective and autonomous threat.

3. Drones as Ammunition: Changing the Operational Culture

The real change, however, is cultural. “We need to stop thinking of drones as airplanes and start thinking of them as munitions,” said Gen. Jason Woodworth, the head of the Marine Corps Installations Command. This statement encapsulates the philosophy that MCADT is trying to promote: drones should not be seen as elite systems, but as standard tools in every Marine's equipment.

To address challenges related to regulations, military airspace, type approvals and frequency approvals, the team works closely with the Defence Innovation Unit, which has drawn up a "blue list" of reliable components and companies. However, as highlighted by the president of the United States National Drone Association, Nathan Ecelbarger, the pace at which new technologies emerge in the industry is so rapid that waiting for formalization could be counterproductive.

Inside the Quantico workshops, Marines are learning to solder circuits, program radio controls, and configure FPV systems with astonishing speed. Sergeant Major Gregory Brown said, “Three weeks ago, I didn’t know anything about electronics. Today, I can teach other Marines.”

In addition to the competitions, the MCADT will organize events as part of the Competition-in-Arms Program, extending the historic shooting competitions to armed drones. A final championship and selection event will also be held in 2026, during which the best operators will be permanently integrated into the team.

Ultimately, the Marine Corps Attack Drone Team represents not only a response to an emerging threat, but also a concrete step toward a deeper transformation: every Marine will also have to become a drone operator, ready to bring the Corps’ lethality and adaptability into the new paradigm of technological warfare.

Source: https://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/4139734/marine-corps-launches-attack-drone-team/