U.S. Army Wants Counter UAS Systems To Be Uncrewed, Mobile

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama—The head of the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) wants a different way to address the issue of taking down uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) at a longer range.

Don’t focus on longer-range missiles. Instead, move the launchers farther out, he says.

The RCCTO and the U.S. Army’s Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center have been developing autonomous ground systems as part of their Project Origin Unmanned Systems effort. This includes experimenting with gun-mounted, eight-wheeled uncrewed systems that work in Army formations.

RCCTO Commander Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, speaking Aug. 8 at the Space & Missile Defense Symposium here, said instead of a gun, a counter UAS system could be mounted on an uncrewed truck.

“So, imagine an environment where I could send a robot with a counter UAS capability kilometers out front, where I don’t have soldiers potentially coming under fire,” Rasch says.

Rasch called on a crowd of industry representatives to think about ways counter UAS systems could be mounted on uncrewed vehicles, looking for a variety of payloads that would work with the open-architecture interfaces of Project Origin.

The RCCTO is going through a series of development phases on new counter UAS systems, especially those that use directed energy.

The office has fielded four Directed Energy Mobile Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) prototypes, including a 15-kw class system on a Stryker vehicle and palletized systems in the 10-20 kw classes. These have been deployed to various locations across the world, Rasch says.

The Army recently completed testing with the first platoon Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High-Power Microwave from Epirus, with the system on track to deploy within the next six to eight months. The RCCTO expects the Lockheed Martin IFPC-High Energy Laser, which is about 300 kw, to be delivered in 2025, Rasch says.