[Goose]

It begs the question if our procurement should be focused on getting hundreds of thousands of disposable surveillance/suicide drones or if a major war for the US would be fundamentally different due to air power, AWACS, and high altitude fixed wing drones.

IMO in a major war the US would fight it differently. Air power is central to all US strategies, both for major and minor wars. We fight under the "aluminum overcast" and until that is possible we basically don't commit troops. In a situation where we don't have the time to obtain air supremacy before using troops, we would have a problem.

In any case, high altitude fixed wing drones are not survivable in modern war without air superiority at least. They can be shot down by missiles that exist today. They are expensive enough it is worth the missile. We don't have a big supply of them to replace losses indefinitely. We also often get ourselves in situations where the ROE preclude us taking advantage of our entire air capability. This is usually a doctrine or policy decision. Given that, it would be prudent to acquire the drone swarms necessary to operate in these conditions. Against an enemy that has that capability, our air power could be at least locally overwhelmed. We also don't (yet) have a real good way of shooting down drones cost-effectively. Running down quadcopters with even F-16s, let alone F-35s, is a fools errand. So yes, we need to acquire such a capability. It will cost a lot. Good luck getting the money.

[Goose]

It begs the question if our procurement should be focused on getting hundreds of thousands of disposable surveillance/suicide drones or if a major war for the US would be fundamentally different due to air power, AWACS, and high altitude fixed wing drones.

IMO in a major war the US would fight it differently. Air power is central to all US strategies, both for major and minor wars. We fight under the "aluminum overcast" and until that is possible we basically don't commit troops. In a situation where we don't have the time to obtain air supremacy before using troops, we would have a problem.

In any case, high altitude fixed wing drones are not survivable in modern war without air superiority at least. They can be shot down by missiles that exist today. They are expensive enough it is worth the missile. We don't have a big supply of them to replace losses indefinitely. We also often get ourselves in situations where the ROE preclude us taking advantage of our entire air capability. This is usually a doctrine or policy decision. Given that, it would be prudent to acquire the drone swarms necessary to operate in these conditions. Against an enemy that has that capability, our air power could be at least locally overwhelmed. We also don't (yet) have a real good way of shooting down drones cost-effectively. Running down quadcopters with even F-16s, let alone F-35s, is a fools errand. So yes, we need to acquire such a capability. It will cost a lot. Good luck getting the money.