The US Army has demonstrated the capabilities of nine of its counter-small unmanned aerial systems (C-sUAS) against more than 40 aerial targets.
Described by the service as its “most challenging counter-drone systems test to date,” the test aimed to evaluate the command-and-control capabilities of its available C-sUAS weapons.
These systems include radio frequency scanners and jammers, electro-optical/infrared cameras, kinetic interceptor drones, and guided rockets.
The task was to be able to quickly differentiate the swarming targets and neutralize the most dangerous threat first, the army’s Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Systems Office (JCO) explained.
The service used a wide array of threat profiles for the demonstration, including rotary-wing, fixed-wing, slow-moving, and even propeller-powered drones.
“You’ve got so many [UAS] coming at you… You don’t want to obviously engage the target multiple times,” JCO acquisition chief Col. Michael Parent said.
‘A Layered Approach’
The US Army acknowledges the significant threat posed by small drones to its global operations.
It said these systems are now being used by enemy forces to carry out targeted attacks and collect reconnaissance at low cost.
With the recent demonstration, the service argued that it was able to assess how each of its available C-sUAS sensed and identified different types of threats.
“The challenge of the profile really meant that no one characteristic, no one capability, whether kinetic or non-kinetic, in itself could really defeat this kind of a profile,” Parent said.
“You really do need a full system-of-systems approach, a layered approach, because we’re talking about a very large profile… coming out from different angles, different speeds, and different sizes.”
The JCO said all nine counter-drone systems showed greater speed and recognition of threats compared to previous demonstrations held from 2021 to 2023.