26 Jun 2026 07:00
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 Intro01:00 - Tasty Gains, ATACLETE, and Operator Training Summit Updates03:24 - Disclaimer for Ryan’s Personal Views04:06 - Welcome Ryan Back to Ones Ready05:24 - Ryan’s Background and Move to the Guard06:14 - Aerial Employment Group and SUAS Services07:32 - Government Contracting and Expensive Gear08:15 - Low-Cost Drone Tech and Commercial Off-the-Shelf Equipment09:17 - Drone Warfare and Small Team Use Cases09:52 - Drones Are a Tool, Not the Answer to Everything10:37 - ISR, Team Support, and Who Should Fly Drones12:00 - Quadcopters vs. Larger Group Two and Group Three Drones13:01 - Transition to the Zulu Course Ruck Discussion15:13 - What Happened With the Zulu Course Ruck?16:10 - TACP Instructors and the Zulu Block Two Link17:00 - Reported 10-Mile Ruck Standard and Load18:49 - First Summer Class and Heat Casualty Reports19:23 - Medical Coverage and Student Paramedics20:46 - Heat Conditions, Uniforms, and Safety Decisions23:03 - What Dry Weight Means in Rucking23:39 - Ryan’s TACP Schoolhouse Ruck Experience25:41 - Evaluations, Standards, and Protecting the Process27:22 - Training Drift and Leadership Decisions28:00 - What Do You Tell Students After an Incident?29:17 - Owning Bad Decisions as a Leader29:55 - When to Call Off a Training Event31:10 - Ranger School Rope Story and Extreme Ownership33:11 - Parents, Students, and Today’s Connected Pipeline35:29 - Why TACP Did Heavy Rucks37:00 - Does This Standard Apply to Every AFSPECWAR Career Field?38:16 - Parent Involvement and Pipeline Communication41:26 - Time, Emotions, and Letting the Schoolhouse Respond43:47 - Accountability Without Cancel Culture46:27 - Medical Planning and After-Action Reviews49:17 - Back to SUAS and TACP Drone Use51:15 - TACP as ACC’s One-Way Attack Lead52:00 - How TACP Units Are Using SUAS Now53:20 - ACC, AFSOC, and SUAS Program Ownership54:42 - SUAS Programmatics and Airframe Certification56:00 - Blue UAS, NDAA Systems, and FPV Drone Risk58:16 - Building and Flying Non-Standard Drone Systems59:08 - Frequencies, Jamming, and Ukraine Drone Lessons01:00:00 - Stop Being Platform Specific01:01:20 - Certification, Currency, and Drone Training Problems01:02:22 - Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up
