How the future of drones is set in the past.
or
How one event 100 years ago will replay again.

The date was 1915. The place was Western Europe. The event was the arrival of aircraft meant to kill. This was the birth of fighter aircraft. Before that time, military aircraft were used as spotters. In the US – Mexican “Border War” (1910-1919), the US Army first fielded aircraft; Mexico fielded no opposing aircraft. In 1914, the nature of aircraft changed and evolved into three standard categories: observation, bombers, and fighters. (As an aside, the transport came later.)

We can pin the date of which the fighter aircraft came of age: The Fokker Scourge, July 1915. The critical question for the 21st century is, “What is the drone analog of the machine gun interrupter?”

Will  drones kill drones? In a word, yes.

Well, we know that on a traditional symmetrical battlefield, everything that flies will be hunted. Both bird and machine will be eliminated ruthlessly.

But on the asymmetrical battlefield and the rule-of-law environment, the nature of drones will become extraordinary. Expect bio-mimicry to make drones functionally and visually indistinguishable from bird, insects, and plant matter. The great hunt will be classification and potentially elimination of the unwanted machines. EM transmissions will be a giveaway and will either result in high gain antenna systems with burst transmissions (aka. WW2 submarines)  or fully autonomous vehicles. The whine of a propeller, gearbox, or motor will be a dead giveaway.

How will drones kill drones? Ruthlessly autonomously. Hawks vs. Watchbirds