Air Force Global Strike Command is considering a further buy of drones for F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., the headquarters of the 90th Missile Wing, per a March 24 sources sought notice.
F.E. Warren is to determine whether industry is able to provide non-commercial off the shelf drones that will feature 360 degree obstacle avoidance under GPS denial conditions, 4k60P high definition resolution color and a forward looking infrared 320P thermal camera, an extended wireless range for force protection of 6 km on commercial 5 GHz band or 10 km on the restricted 1.8GHz government band, infrared strobe lighting for night vision, and an overall system that does not contain Chinese components, as directed by congressional defense authorizers.
Drones that AFGSC could consider that are on an Air Force Special Operations Command non-COTS list include the AAI Aerosonde, the AeroVironment Puma I/II/III (RQ-20A/B), Raven (RQ-11), SwitchBlade, Wasp (RQ-12), the Altavian ION M440 C, the Arcturus Jump 20, the BlackBar Storm, the FLIR [TDY] PD-100 Black Hornet (BH-2/BH-3) and R80D SkyRaider, the Boeing [BA] Insitu RQ-21 Blackjack and MQ-27A/B Scan Eagle, the Lockheed Martin [LMT] Stalker XE, the Parrot Anafi-USA-Gov/mil, the Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) Instant Eye Mk3-GEN4-D1/D2/E1 and M3-GEN5 D1/D2, the Schiebel S-100, the Skydio X2D, the Teal Golden Eagle, the Vantage Robotics Vesper and the HoverFly Tethered UAS.
Drones are prohibited from flight over F.E. Warren without permission from the commander of the 90th Missile Wing.
In January, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Joseph Testa, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the 90th Missile Wing’s Missile Security Operations Squadron (MSOS), said in a statement issued by F.E. Warren that the squadron’s drones and counter UAS training “exist to protect the 90th Missile Wing’s Protection Level 1 systems and base populace against what has been called ‘the IED of the 21st Century.'”
Protection Level 1 systems include nuclear weapons, their command and control, and Air Force One.
The 90th MSOS’ drone inventory includes civilian hobby drones as well as PSI Instant Eye Gen3, PSI Instant Eye Gen4, Vayu Aerospace US-1, and the FLIR Black Hornet micro drone, Testa said.