The aircraft drill is mostly to be used against helicopters. It
is very unlikely for a fast mover to spot infantrymen on the
ground. Based on the experience in Iraq, small arms fire is quite
deadly to helicopters, since they are easy to hit and have lots of
fragile bits. I would not discount the aircraft drill. Of course,
it won't save you from an airstrike (the bombs will be coming from
way outside your range anyway), but you might get lucky against
helos that cross your path.
Note that aircraft do not carry cluster bombs around all the time.
If they do they are either on CAS (which means that they will be
flying low so as not to accidentally hit their own troops whom you
are probably fighting at the same time), or performing an
interdiction airstrike (in which case they know you are there and
you are finished). I would be more concerned about their cannon,
which they always have and will gladly use to strafe you before
radioing your position for an airstrike or artillery attack. And
their cannon still have longer range than you. Sigh.
I wonder why we do not deploy more MANPAD systems. That would be a
lot better, though I do not relish carrying even more weight. There
seems to be a direction toward dual-use missile systems, which can
attack both ground and air targets, like Starstreak. However, these
systems are still too large for individual infantrymen. Maybe in
some years time, we will have guided LAWs that double as MANPADs.
That would really put some bite into the PBIs (poor bloody
infantry).
