Army Explores New Solutions for Detecting Enemy Drones
In a bid to enhance battlefield awareness, the U.S. Army is in the initial phases of developing a device that can alert soldiers to nearby hostile drones. This innovative technology aims to integrate seamlessly with soldiers’ existing gear without adding to their load, according to Army officials.
During the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting, Beth Perry, Director of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) C5ISR Center, highlighted that this sensing technology is part of recent “innovation sprints” within the center. The focus is on recognizing the unique acoustic signatures of various drone platforms.
“As we categorize the threat in the [counter-unmanned aerial systems] space, in the drone space, and we understand all of the different platforms, they all have different acoustic signatures,” Perry explained. “And so being able to do some [work] on the soldier-based, very lightweight sensing technology that will pick up, hey, you know, there’s a drone following you … that’s a very early innovation project.”
Jami Davis, Assistant Director for Soldier and Platform Mission Equipment, noted that soldiers have expressed concerns about being unknowingly observed or targeted. “I think one of the overarching things we’ve heard from our user community this year is very basic things,” Davis said. “Their priority is the soldier knowing he’s being observed by a UAS, right? Like it’s very basic things that we can provide to help kind of even give our soldiers situational awareness.”
Emphasizing the need for lightweight solutions, Davis added, “Our technology is always pushing for … lighter, smaller, more integrated to reduce the soldier load and improve the capability.” The goal is to improve existing industry solutions to make them more compact and efficient, reducing the need for additional equipment.
Defense contractors have proposed various drone-sensing solutions that can be integrated with other gear or function as standalone devices using RF or acoustic detection. Earlier this year, an Army sergeant in Germany devised an RF-based personal drone-sensing device that fit in a pocket or pouch and could be assembled for around $120, reported Stars and Stripes.
While Perry couldn’t provide specific details about the device’s design or its development trajectory, she mentioned, “It’s still things that we’re doing in the lab that we see as a way for us to provide a low [size, weight and power] solution for a known threat, but not something that we’ve tested yet.” She further emphasized that the project is in its nascent stages within a broad spectrum of technology development.
