Combat Drone(s) that have lost one or more of their shield(s) should flash red, so the player can target it/them and scoop it/them B4 it/they are destroyed. Also flashing red should be the Drone's icon in the upper right corner, so the drone can easily be targeted in the current sea of crap that constitutes C2's combat screens.

I'm really tired of getting a RED message that a drone has popped a shield and not knowing which one. Especially the end game drones such as Armada Infernos.

Those are diffusers, and are spawned again when you redeploy them.

What you call it really doesn't matter when the next time the drone takes a hit you get to see it vanish from your screen.

When a drone looses a diffuser, it is far from vital. I would be more concerned about when they drop to 25% or less on their shields.

Comparing a shield to a diffuser is something that does matter.

don't most drones have multiple diffs anyway?

They have one. Just one. Like Thermal said, it's replaced if blown up when you redeploy that drone.

Tankier drones(Bubbles) have a more powerful diffuser than ....less tanky drones(Ambushes).

meh, i'm sure I remember hearing/seeing it blow up more than once for a drone, at least in c1