The US Army has opened a new academy to train soldiers on how to effectively defend against the rapidly-evolving threat of drones.
Located at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the facility will be used to develop and teach countermeasures to address the increasing presence of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on today’s battlefield.
With the help of state-of-the-art systems, trainees will be taught to determine the best sensors to detect even fast-moving enemy drones in the sky.
The facility will also utilize both modern and conventional weapons, including modified rifles and directed energy lasers, to take down hostile UAVs.
“We don’t have five years to wait for the perfect system. We have to rapidly innovate with what’s possible now and keep getting better, because even when we figure it out, they’re going to make a countermove,” Army Futures Command official General James Rainey said.
The service plans to train around 1,000 soldiers every year starting this month.
Three Main Types of Instruction
According to military officials, the Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aircrafts University will offer three main types of instruction tailored for specific needs of the army, air force, navy, and marines.
The first will be for troops tasked with operating counter-UAV systems.
The facility will also have courses for combat planners to identify the best locations for sensors and the most suitable weapons to use.
Lastly, the university will offer an installation protection course to train troops to set up and operate anti-drone weapons to protect US military bases.
Preparing for the Future Battlefield
The US Army’s move to open a new anti-drone facility is part of a wider effort to prepare for future battlefields.
Previously, drone warfare training mostly involved teaching soldiers to operate and attack using sophisticated UAVs.
But taking lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine, in which the war-torn nation reportedly loses 10,000 drones a month, the school hopes to focus also on mitigating the risks of enemy drones.
“It’s not going to be just for our operators, our planning, our leadership,” university director Jennifer Smith said. “They’re going to have to learn how to plan for defense designs and take into account UAVs as well.”