Fighting autonomous drones comes down to a funding issue. Funding is directed towards massive expensive programs because that’s where the profit is. No one in the US arms industry wants to be on either side (offense or defense) of tiny offensive drones because small munitions, and the historic small purchases during peacetime. mean a huge investment but no payback. So, both industry and the military pursue large projects and ignore projects that promise much less cost regardless of how important or necessary they are. In the end, on the military side an officer wants to lead projects that are high profile and expensive. Companies (and therefore lobbyists) only want huge devices that cost enormous amounts; profit being a percentage of costs.
This will continue until the US gets its a$$ wiped by some tiny country that only has toy factories. Then, after lots of deaths, the government will start a HUGE program to develop offensive and defensive munitions. But the project must include a plant in every important district and lots and lots of sub-component suppliers spread across congressional districts. Because, that’s how this works.
Do a YouTube search for “Drone Swarms”. We already have tactics being tested.
Great post.