Army Counters Unmanned Aircraft System Threats

January 22, 2014

As the military use of unmanned aircraft systems has increased dramatically, including by entities that may pose a threat to the United States, scientists at Picatinny Arsenal are part of the effort to counter potential threats to U.S. armed forces by such systems.

A small-class UAS was defeated by a prototype Army gun-launched munition. (Eric Kowal, Picatinny)

The U.S. Army Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) partnered with the Navy's Office of Strategic Systems Programs and successfully demonstrated the capabilities of fire-control radar to detect, track, and characterize UASs. This information was then used to veer a remote weapon station gimbal at the threat UAS, emulating a potential defeat system.

In 2013, ARDEC directed its focus on integrating the fire control radar with a variety of current weapon systems that could potentially neutralize the UAS threat. This ability marks the first time a small class UAS has been defeated by a prototype U.S. Army "gun launched" munition using a novel warhead design.

The significance of this accomplishment is the potential to provide a single-shot, low-cost-per-kill weapon system that can function in a multi-role capability for both fixed and mobile Army platforms.

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