Los l\u00edderes del ej\u00e9rcito han hecho sonar la alarma, seg\u00fan las observaciones en Ucrania, donde el ej\u00e9rcito ruso est\u00e1 utilizando drones para apuntar, atacar y vigilar, contrarrestar los UAS debe ser una alta prioridad y el ejercito necesita un conjunto de herramientas integral para combatir las amenazas emergentes de los drones.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 A U.S. Army organization created to guide air- and missile-defense modernization is taking on a new mission to focus on\u00a0countering drone threats<\/a>, its new leader said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n Service officials have divided up the job of defeating enemy unmanned aircraft among a variety of organizations. For example, the Army is already leading the\u00a0Pentagon\u2019s Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office<\/a>, or the JCO, which is tasked to evaluate and field new technologies for combatting UAS threats in a variety of ways. The office has requirements in place to support selected systems and hosts\u00a0technology rodeos twice a year<\/a>\u00a0to evaluate new technology for possible future integration.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the service\u2019s Rapid Capability and Critical Technologies Office working on solutions for countering drones to include directed energy and\u00a0high-power microwave systems.<\/a><\/p>\n The Army\u2019s Program Executive Office Missiles and Space is there to figure out how to bring ready capability to the force as programs of record, and now Army Futures Command\u2019s Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team will work on requirements to support the development of new and advanced capabilities, Col. Patrick Costello, the AMD CFT lead, told Defense News in an interview last month.<\/p>\n Receiving this newest mission, Costello said, \u201cis a realization that counter-UAS is a team sport and it requires coordination with the PEO, it requires coordination with the RCCTO and a close relationship with the JCO.\u201d<\/p>\n Army leaders have sounded the alarm \u2014 based on observations in Ukraine, where\u00a0Russian military<\/a>\u00a0is using drones for targeting, attack, and surveillance \u2014 that countering UAS needs to be a high priority and that the service needs a comprehensive toolkit to combat emerging drone threats.<\/p>\n Officials are now trying to balance the urgency of what is needed immediately with the needs of tomorrow, and that is its \u201cbiggest challenge,\u201d Costello said.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s other missions include developing the future Integrated Air and Missile Defense system including new sensors and shooters, developing the command-and-control system that ties elements together on the battlefield, and short-range air defense.<\/p>\n The CFT will recommend priorities for research and technology development and science and technology efforts and \u201ckind of make sure that those are binned in the right way,\u201d Costello said.<\/p>\n And the team will also synchronize efforts with the Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where the AMD CFT is also situated, on what formations and training will be required. The\u00a0joint training base for countering UAS<\/a>\u00a0is moving from Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, to Fort Sill in the coming years, Costello noted.<\/p>\n Working with relevant Capabilities Development and Integration Directorates like the Maneuver CDID, for example, the CFT is helping to develop what is needed for the operational force at the Brigade Combat Team level and below, Costello said, \u201cbecause this is not just an air defense problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The hope is to \u201csynchronize all of these disparate efforts and make sure that we have a strategy where we\u2019re not ending up with 152 systems on the battlefield that don\u2019t talk to each other,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n All of the organizations involved in coordinating counter-UAS capabilities acknowledge that there\u2019s no silver bullet to getting after the problem, Costello noted, and what\u00a0is needed for installations in the United States\u00a0<\/a>is going to be different from semi-fixed or fixed sites in another theater, according to Costello. \u201cThen in the close fight, the operational force, the dismounted folks, soldiers don\u2019t need the same capabilities that the mounted folks do,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n One focus area for the CFT is technology to help aid decisions in how to counter drone threats. \u201cEspecially when it\u2019s a non-air-defense soldier,\u201d Costello said, \u201cwhat is the\u00a0best capability against a [small drone]?<\/a>\u00a0It\u2019s probably not a Stinger [missile], it sure as heck isn\u2019t a Patriot [missile]. We\u2019ve seen that happen in places and it\u2019s just not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside of that, the CFT is looking at how best to layer capabilities such as electronic warfare, directed energy and kinetic solutions, Costello said.<\/p>\n Just because the AMD CFT is just now adopting counter-UAS as a focus area doesn\u2019t mean the\u00a0Army isn\u2019t in a good position<\/a>, Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, the Army\u2019s program executive officer for missiles and space, said in the same interview.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though it may be a new assignment to the CFT, it\u2019s something that we\u2019ve been working closely with Fort Sill on for many years,\u201d he said. \u201cThe goodness of the cross-functional team is that it helps coalesce the team to work in a more coordinated manner to get to the outcome, the vision, the Army wants us to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n