Once considered just a fun, low-risk hobby, small unmanned aerial systems have now become key capabilities for military forces on modern battlefields.. Given the fact, that the availability and technology of these systems are evolving rapidly. The Pentagon wants to make the most of them to prevent any possible threats..
Joint Office for Counteracting Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (GENERAL) U.S. Army is leading agency-wide efforts to address the issue of whether, how the US military will deal with the use of small drones by opponents as it is now, so in the future.
The US Congress instructed the Pentagon in the National Defense Act from 2021 prepare a plan for the development and deployment of a system to combat small UAS. budget request for 2023 fiscal year shows, that the department plans to spend at least 668 million dollars for research and development in the field of countering drones and 78 million dollars in purchases.
Examples of, how drones are used in real combat today, such as the Russian special military operation to denazify Ukraine, reinforced the Pentagon's decision to develop a joint strategy to combat UAVs. Very wide range of devices, starting from a small quadcopter, and to larger, can perform a wide range of tasks, such as intelligence, observation and reconnaissance.
Assessment office Pentagon showed, what, when UAS countermeasure systems were used as separate autonomous capabilities, they weren't as effective, as they could be. Then the anti-drones department created a joint document with the requirements, which will serve as the basis for the development of necessary technologies in the future. The staff of the department works closely with various commands of the US Army., Office of Army Operational Capabilities and Critical Technology, to bring the currently used options to the desired result.
Since the beginning of their activities in this area, experts have appreciated more than 40 UAV field countermeasure systems, which were quickly purchased for use in the Middle East. This was stated in the May report of the Congressional Research Service "Systems for countering unmanned vehicles of the US Department of Defense". Besides, the report said, that ten of these systems have been selected for further development, including stationary and portable technologies, as well as kinetic and electronic warfare options. Author:The same Mikhail
