U.S. Army Looks At New Ways To Beat Drones

U.S. forces are operating without complete air superiority, with the threat of small, low-cost unmanned aircraft systems proliferating to the point that the Army’s chief says they are the new improvised explosive device.

Countering unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) has become a major priority for all the services, with the Army looking at near-term fixes through demonstrations of existing technologies and a long-term effort to use the service’s major Project Convergence to develop new ways to fight the drones.

• Service is testing cheap, readily available systems
• Project Convergence to look at counter-UAS mission

The Army wants counter-UAS systems that can “pick them up with our sensors, and then you can pick the appropriate weapons system to take that down,” says U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. James C. McConville. “[This] may be a missile, gun, directed energy [or] a high-powered microwave. We’ll have multiple arrows in the quiver.”

The use of small UAVs, typically…