Ep 598: Future of One Way Attack Drones

Ryan is back on Ones Ready with Aaron and Peaches to talk drones, TACP, small unmanned aerial systems, one-way attack, and where small team warfare is headed.

Ryan is a TACP officer, Guardsman, and founder of Aerial Employment Group, a company focused on SUAS training, red air support, counter-SUAS training, program development, and helping military and law enforcement teams figure out what drone systems actually work.

In this episode, the crew talks about how small unmanned aerial systems are changing the fight, where drones actually make sense for small teams, how TACP units are using SUAS to support JTAC skills, why one-way attack is becoming a major focus, and why the military’s drone approval and certification process has to move faster.

They also get into the reported Zulu course ruck issue, heavy ruck standards, heat casualties, training risk, ownership, and what happens when events drift away from their original purpose. Ryan gives perspective from the TACP side, including how heavy rucks showed up in the TACP pipeline and why evaluated events need to be tied to real standards.

Ryan’s company:
aerialemploymentgroup.com

Check out Tasty Gains:
TastyGains.com

Gear from ATACLETE:
OnesReady.com

Train with us:
OperatorTrainingSummit.com

Chapters:
00:00 - Ones Ready Intro
01:00 - Tasty Gains, ATACLETE, and Operator Training Summit Updates
03:24 - Disclaimer for Ryan’s Personal Views
04:06 - Welcome Ryan Back to Ones Ready
05:24 - Ryan’s Background and Move to the Guard
06:14 - Aerial Employment Group and SUAS Services
07:32 - Government Contracting and Expensive Gear
08:15 - Low-Cost Drone Tech and Commercial Off-the-Shelf Equipment
09:17 - Drone Warfare and Small Team Use Cases
09:52 - Drones Are a Tool, Not the Answer to Everything
10:37 - ISR, Team Support, and Who Should Fly Drones
12:00 - Quadcopters vs. Larger Group Two and Group Three Drones
13:01 - Transition to the Zulu Course Ruck Discussion
15:13 - What Happened With the Zulu Course Ruck?
16:10 - TACP Instructors and the Zulu Block Two Link
17:00 - Reported 10-Mile Ruck Standard and Load
18:49 - First Summer Class and Heat Casualty Reports
19:23 - Medical Coverage and Student Paramedics
20:46 - Heat Conditions, Uniforms, and Safety Decisions
23:03 - What Dry Weight Means in Rucking
23:39 - Ryan’s TACP Schoolhouse Ruck Experience
25:41 - Evaluations, Standards, and Protecting the Process
27:22 - Training Drift and Leadership Decisions
28:00 - What Do You Tell Students After an Incident?
29:17 - Owning Bad Decisions as a Leader
29:55 - When to Call Off a Training Event
31:10 - Ranger School Rope Story and Extreme Ownership
33:11 - Parents, Students, and Today’s Connected Pipeline
35:29 - Why TACP Did Heavy Rucks
37:00 - Does This Standard Apply to Every AFSPECWAR Career Field?
38:16 - Parent Involvement and Pipeline Communication
41:26 - Time, Emotions, and Letting the Schoolhouse Respond
43:47 - Accountability Without Cancel Culture
46:27 - Medical Planning and After-Action Reviews
49:17 - Back to SUAS and TACP Drone Use
51:15 - TACP as ACC’s One-Way Attack Lead
52:00 - How TACP Units Are Using SUAS Now
53:20 - ACC, AFSOC, and SUAS Program Ownership
54:42 - SUAS Programmatics and Airframe Certification
56:00 - Blue UAS, NDAA Systems, and FPV Drone Risk
58:16 - Building and Flying Non-Standard Drone Systems
59:08 - Frequencies, Jamming, and Ukraine Drone Lessons
01:00:00 - Stop Being Platform Specific
01:01:20 - Certification, Currency, and Drone Training Problems
01:02:22 - Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up