The United States Central Command announced the formation of what it describes as a multinational attack drone task force in the Middle East.
An August 13 CENTCOM press release disclosed that the command has begun the process of launching a groundbreaking task force equipped with unmanned one-way attack systems, or suicide drones.
Called Task Force Falcon Strike, it will consist of U.S. and regional military forces and will operate suicide drone systems “from above, on, and below the sea.”
CENTCOM has begun the process of inviting allies in the Middle East to formally join the force, according to the statement.
The creation of the new multinational task force follows Iranian and Houthi drone attacks against U.S. forces and infrastructure across Middle Eastern nations.
Houthi forces claimed a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil refinery this week, while the United Arab Emirates accused Iran of shooting drones at two oil tankers owned by Abu Dhabi attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday evening.
“As regional partners formally join, Task Force Falcon Strike will scale attack drone capabilities across the Middle East into a unified multi-domain, multinational deterrent,” according to the release.
A Multinational Attack Force In The Middle East
CENTCOM’s area of responsibility spans 21 nations across the Middle East, northeast Africa, and Central and South Asia – including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan, among others.
The announcement of a multinational military force that integrates attack drone capabilities across Middle Eastern borders is unprecedented.
In December of last year, CENTCOM launched a predecessor force called Task Force Scorpion Strike in the Middle East led by U.S. Special Operations Command. This force however comprised a U.S. military operation rather than a multinational coalition.
CENTCOM has stated that the new initiative will expand on the past successes of Scorpion Strike to include regional allies and “military support staff from the United States.”
A NATO-Style Collective Defense Model?
When asked to clarify whether the new task force could accurately be described as a parallel to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Pentagon referred questions to CENTCOM.
In response to questions about similarities to NATO and drone systems to be fielded, CENTCOM replied: “We have nothing further to add to the press release at this time.”
An apparent similarity to NATO exists in Falcon Strike’s architecture as an international military coalition which partner nations formally join to jointly effect what CENTCOM describes as a “multidomain, multinational deterrent.”
It is unclear at the time of publication how the multinational task force intends to use one-way attack drones within a deterrent framework.
However, the task force is not directly comparable to NATO in several details, notably in that NATO is a purely defensive alliance that does not adhere to the use of any particular weapons system while Task Force Falcon Strike has the stated purpose of fielding one-way attack drones, which are innately offensive weapons.
What Types Of Suicide Drones Will Be Used?
Although CENTCOM declined to disclose details, its initial statement reveals key insights about the types of autonomous systems the task force will likely deploy.
Per the statement, the new force will use unmanned systems above, on and below the sea. This suggests it will rely on naval assets including manned vessels to launch drones.
It also indicates that the force will field both Unmanned Surface Vehicles, known as USVs, and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, called UUVs.
The task force may also launch Unmanned Aircraft Systems from ships. Its predecessor force, Task Force Scorpion Strike, conducted the U.S. Navy’s first launch of a suicide drone from a U.S. vessel at sea last December when one of its drones flew into the Arabian Gulf from the USS Santa Barbara.
The drone was a Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, better known as a LUCAS drone. The LUCAS derives from the design of Iran’s notorious Shahed drone and served as Task Force Scorpion Strike’s primary weapon.
As tensions rise in the Middle East and Iranian drone attacks target U.S. military service members and critical infrastructure across the region, the new multinational task force is poised to take a more aggressive posture in countering drone attacks and ushering in a new era of collective defense in the Middle East.