The US Marine Corps is fielding a new, cutting-edge system designed to protect military infrastructure by detecting, tracking, and neutralizing small unmanned aircraft systems.
Named the Installation-Counter small Unmanned Aircraft System (ICsUAS), the tech features an integrated system to ensure continuous installation defense.
According to the US Marines, the battle to keep critical military assets safe continually evolves, noting the need to develop and deploy more state-of-the-art platforms to defend against sUAS threats.
“The threat of sUAS is only proliferating every day,” ground-based air defense program manager Don Kelley said. “The bottom line is, we need to provide this capability to our Marines as rapidly as possible.”
Automatic Coverage
US Marine Corps official Maj. Kyle Yakopovich explained that the ICsUAS fuses multiple modalities into a single system, making it more accurate in detecting and identifying small aircraft.
He added that the system utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to constantly and autonomously analyze sensor data faster and more precisely than a human operator.
The tech reportedly enhances the capability to track threats while reducing the manpower necessary.
“In previous years, we had the same components: the radar, the camera, and the RF (radio frequency) detection,” Yakopovich stressed. “But it was time-intensive, training-intensive and manpower-intensive.”
With the new ICsUAS, operators do not need to dedicate much time to have 24-hour continuous coverage of critical infrastructure.
The system automatically alerts operators if suspicious activity is detected near a protected facility.
