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The Marine Corps is interested in learning about potential counter-drone interceptors it can add to the next block of its ground-based air defense vehicle.
According to the RFI published for planning and informational purposes, the Ground-Based Air Defense program office is looking for potential solutions from industry on Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) interceptors to defeat Groups 1, 2, and 3 UAS.
The interceptors the service is soliciting would be integrated into the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, also called MADIS in order to increase lethality. MADIS is essentially a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle with an array of sensors, communications equipment and light weaponry that Low Altitude Air Defense Marines, all called LAADs, can use to fight off incoming hostile drones. The system has proven particularly effective in the Middle East.
The service is seeking solutions rated at a technology readiness level of seven, meaning that the system has been prototyped and put through some level of operational testing, according to breakingdefense.com.
This is a follow-up on the Pentagon’s strategy published last year. “Our initial efforts were intended to meet the immediate needs of Services and combatant commanders,” wrote then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. “However, as technology and proliferation of sUAS continue to advance at a pace that challenges the Department’s ability to respond effectively within current paradigms, it is evident that we cannot rely on materiel solutions alone,” he continued.
