An expendable drone developed by RTX [RTX] has proven critical in countering other unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in two combatant commands (COCOMs) but generally a system-of-systems approach is necessary to counter the range of unmanned aircraft threats U.S. forces are facing abroad, the head of the Defense Department’s efforts to assess and develop counter-measures to these threats said on Tuesday.
Initial deployments of counter-small UAS (C-sUAS) systems showed that standalone technologies were not that good, meaning they were effective less than 50 percent of the time, Army Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, director of the Joint C-sUAS Office (JCO), said during the annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium. However, once integrated systems were employed, which entailed an electronic warfare capability to defeat drone threats that was combined with an electro-optic-infrared camera or a radar, all of which was fused in a common command and control system, “it was amazing the results we were seeing in the power you gave the operator to not only pick up threat sets that were inside of the electronic library but also autonomous vehicles through the radar to be able to pick up the holistic range of several different threats,” he said.
Most C-sUAS sites in the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR) have this system-of-systems approach, Gainey said. However, the electronic warfare effectors did not give users the “100 percent confidence” they needed to get after Group 3 drone threats, he added.
Group 3 UAS have a maximum gross take-off weight less than 1,320 pounds. Group 1 drones weigh up to 20 pounds and Group 2 UAS weigh between 21 and 55 pounds.
The electronic warfare systems are mainly used against the Group 1 and 2 drone threats. Gainey said the Army is using a low collateral interceptor, which is a vertical take-off-and-landing UAS, to protect one of its critical sites in the Continental U.S. in combination with EW systems, he said.
The Coyote interceptor “is promising technology that I believe can be a game changer if the onboard radar is tuned properly,” he said.
The Army’s Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space invested in a kinetic interceptor called Coyote that is “very successful in theater right now,” Gainey said. RTX supplies Coyote, which is an expendable fixed-wing drone that can slam into other small UAS or down them throw blast fragments from an exploding warhead.
“So, that became the bedrock Group 3 capability that we’re employing in the CENTCOM AOR with great effects and even in the AFRICOM AOR,” Gainey said. Coyote is also engaging targets at “very impressive” ranges, he said.
The Coyote interceptor continues to be improved by spiraling in software upgrades, he said. Later in his presentation, Gainey said that the Coyote has been equipped with a high-power microwave warhead for use to counter drones in the CENTCOM AOR.
The feedback from the various COCOMS about the C-sUAS capabilities they are receiving from the JCO is that the systems are “great” but that they need more and better, he said.
Through increases in funding, the JCO has been able to get directed energy systems into the field for assessments, Gainey said. AFRICOM, CENTCOM and Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) have been provided 10 kilowatt directed energy systems and CENTCOM is also receiving a 20kw system, he said.
The higher power means that that if the beams are tuned properly, drone threats can be defeated more quickly, allowing operators to move on to the next target, Gainey said. The investments in high-power microwave systems help provide a layered defense against massed drone threats, he said.
The Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office has also purchased the Leonidas high-power microwave system from Epirus and plans to provide one to the INDOPACOM area for an operational assessment, Gainey said.
Gainey said that the Defense Department is examining the larger threat of drones, aircraft, and ballistic missiles from as an integrated air and missile defense challenge so that “we have a seamless capability” that defends against everything from Group 1 UAS to ballistic missiles.
Integrated air and missile defense systems that include the C-sUAS and short-range air defenses have worked “very well together at CENTCOM,” Gainey said. The Stinger and Avenger air defense systems have been used as has the counter-rocket and mortar system, he said.
The Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program will provide “higher-end” air defense capabilities to counter drone threats that are getting faster, autonomous and bring mass to attacks, Gainey said. He said NGI will be able to fire multiple shots to counter the evolving threat.