Air Force Testing Counter-Shooter Tech on Bases.

• Author: Carberry, Sean
• Position: DISPATCHES

WASHINGTON, D.C.--While the U.S. government has passed new laws in an effort to prevent mass shootings, the Air Force is piloting a system that combines artificial intelligence and drone technology to stop active shooters on military installations.

The Drone-Robot Enabled Active Shooter Deterrence system, developed by Philadelphia-based ZeroEyes, overlays the company's existing AI gundetection software on the security camera system at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. Then, it uses drones or robots to contain a potential shooter.

"The entire idea behind the platform is being able to take a robot and ultimately impede, disorient an active threat on an installation before they can do any more damage," said JT Wilkins, senior vice president of government solutions at the company.

Once deployed in response to a threat, the drone or robotic dog would use sirens, strobes or other non-physical means of disrupting the shooter.

In 85 percent of cases, a weapon is exposed and visible for 2 to 30 minutes prior to the first shots being fired, Wilkins said. "So that's ultimately where we want to be able to get these detections out and be able to send a robot to potentially interdict while we're getting up a squad car from one side of the base to the other."

While the system uses AI and drone technology, it is not fully...