COUNTER-UAS.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin
• Position: SOCOM'S TOP 10

Unmanned aerial systems are becoming cheaper and more powerful. The military is investing in technologies to counter systems employed by adversaries that could carry deadly payloads.

Special Operations Command is developing counter-UAS platforms that can be used by dismounted special operators, said Navy Lt. Phillip Chitty, a spokesperson for the command.

SOCOM is "working on handheld, backpack-sized, mobile and fixed-site configurations that detect and defeat small UAS," he said in an email.

The organization is currently conducting evaluations and risk-reduction efforts to create prototypes, he said. It is also working with agencies such as the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization and the services, he added.

Enemy unmanned aerial vehicles are a major threat for special operators, Chitty noted. The Islamic State has reportedly armed drones with explosive devices and dropped them in Syria.

"The use of small, lightweight, unmanned aerial systems by our adversaries presents a force protection threat to U.S. and ... partner nation special operators," he said. "These systems are used primarily for reconnaissance and are capable of carrying light payloads."

SOCOM is seeking both kinetic and non-kinetic options for counter-UAS systems, Chitty said. Industry has developed technology that can knock drones out of the sky using missiles and lasers, as well as platforms that can jam the system's communications relay, forcing it to turn around or land.

The command is "looking at everything from handheld to a 'system-of-systems' capability that optimizes all methods of detection and mitigates all threats that small UAS present in an interface that will not dramatically obstruct the SOF operator's mission planning or load," Chitty said.

Army Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III, commander of Special Operations Command, said the organization is hard at work developing such technologies.

"Current efforts include... continuing ThunderDrone activities which focus on counter-unmanned aerial systems challenges and solutions as well as opportunities to enhance our offensive use of UAS, especially in coordination with machine learning-enabled...