I saw a slide somewhere recently - there are already plans for this as an artillery shell or missile. I think it was combined with ordinary ordnance- drone is ejected before main weapon payload towards end of "flight". Drone helps pick highest value target then is used after for damage assessment. Presumably then it self destructs or/or kamikazees

Cruise missiles with submunition dispensers are not exactly a new concept. It's certainly possible in theory to stick some smart loitering munitions in a Tomahawk but that's going to be extremely expensive and not reusable.

Because that was the point of the comment thread

> and unless we're talking one-use drones (so, guided missiles really) - there's a lot of maintenance. Somebody needs to transport the drones to the front, program the goals, recharge the batteries (which takes hours often), rearm them after the mission, download the gathered data, change the encryption keys, etc.

If we're talking single use drones you can launch them like rockets, or from an unmanned vehicle. There's also no real reason for them to be propeller drones. A modern Tomahawk missile can "loiter" in the air for 2 hours before being directed at its real target.

The concern is with multiple use drones, the biggest vulnerability will be your maintenance / base station so you'll want humans defending that. But also anything that puts them within a reasonable drone range puts them in artillery or SAM range.