New System to Defend Against Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

As technology advances, so does the need to field more cutting-edge equipment to counter threats, such as those posed by small unmanned aerial systems. According to the US Marines, the battle to keep critical military assets safe continually evolves, noting the need to develop and deploy more state-of-the-art platforms to defend against sUAS threats

Therefore, the Marine Corps have begun utilizing an anti-drone system named ICsUAS, the Installation-Counter small Unmanned Aircraft System. The tech features an integrated system to ensure continuous defense. 

The ICsUAS is a new and cutting-edge system designed to protect military infrastructure by detecting, tracking, and neutralizing small unmanned aircraft systems. The system is equipped with a few different components for better detection and ultimately, defense. The Long-Range Sentry Tower consists of a radar system and an optical sensor and works in conjunction with a passive radio frequency detection capability to present the operator with a visual depiction of the threat’s flight path.

According to dvidshub.net, each of the towers’ sensor components are already widely in use, but ICsUAS is special because it uses Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to constantly and autonomously analyze the sensor data faster and more accurately than a human operator. The system enhances the capability to detect, track, and identify the threat while reducing the amount of manpower previously required to perform these actions.

“In previous years, we had the same components: the radar, the camera and the RF detection, but it was time-intensive, training-intensive and manpower-intensive. You had to have a Marine dedicate all of that time if you wanted to have 24-hour, continuous coverage. Now, you can free up a Marine’s labor using the ICsUAS, which will automatically alert the user if suspicious activity is determined,” said Fixed Site Project Officer for Program Manager Ground Based Air Defense at PEO Land Systems Maj. Kyle Yakopovich.