For less than $800, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division are building drones that are designed to be disposable, the deputy commanding general of the division said.

The Attritable Battlefield Enabler, or ABE 1.01, named after the division’s bald eagle mascot, is yet another advancement soldiers are making as the Army works to adapt and keep up with fast evolving drone warfare.

At a cost of $740, the ABE 1.01 gives small units reconnaissance and target acquisition capabilities, and an inexpensive way to drop a grenade from above the enemy, Brig. Gen. Travis McIntosh said during an Oct. 14 Warriors Corner presentation at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.

“The 101st Airborne Division is no stranger to innovation,” McIntosh said. “We are in the fourth evolution of vertical envelopment, … the first one being gliders and parachutes.”

This latest evolution is “large scale, long range and drones,” he said.

Cost remains a factor, McIntosh said. “As we were looking to order and prepare our forces to fight with drones, the cost was unacceptable,” he said. Developing the ability to attach a grenade or plastic explosive to a drone and enable a small unit to use it to conduct an ambush or breach an obstacle would cost “between $2,500 on the low end, to $11,000. We cannot train at that cost.”

After Secretary of War Pete Hegseth published the “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance” directive in July, “it was ‘game on,” McIntosh said. Soldiers, NCOs and warrant officers from the 101st Airborne Division told leadership, “I can build that,” McIntosh said.

The result was ABE 1.01. “At scale, I’m not worried at all about training with this thing,” McIntosh said. “Even an old general is able to fly this thing.”

McIntosh told AUSA after the presentation that since ABE 1.01 is designed to be attritable, the Army treats it like other munitions, not accountable property. This means soldiers can train freely without worrying about facing consequences for breaking the drone.

Despite having the drone available for training, McIntosh said more is needed. Soldiers report that it takes four people to operate the drone: one to watch the first-person view, someone to provide security, someone to carry the equipment and someone to erect the antennas. “That’s the wrong math,” he said.

McIntosh called on defense industry partners to provide the Army with a way to fly drones “by command, not by pilot.”

“When your drones can understand commander’s intent, that … is the threshold for [artificial intelligence] and autonomy,” McIntosh said.

Commanders also need to ability to command drones like a platoon or a battalion, he said. “If you’ve got something out there that can make [ABE 1.01] a smarter device, then come partner with us,” he said.

— Tom McCuin