Martin: Army ready to lead on counter-UAS

By Jaspreet Gill / February 12, 2020 at 4:04 PM

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Joseph Martin says he is working closely with Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord as the service takes the lead on counter-drone technology.

"Lots of great work has gone on in the past, but it's still something that, because technology is evolving, is still a wicked problem to solve," Martin said in an interview today.

Lord told reporters last month DOD put Army Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey in charge of fielding counter-drone technology and that the Pentagon's test and evaluation office is expected to complete an assessment on several fielded systems in April.

Martin said the Army will start buying existing technologies that are proven to work.

"We're going to take that and some of the research and development initiatives that are going on in the industry right now through the [Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office] and we're going to develop the next generation of a more comprehensive capability."

Martin said a "symphony of capabilities" will be needed to protect installations and deployed soldiers from the many different types of unmanned aircraft systems in use -- quadcopters, octocopters, small fixed-wing drones and more.

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