ARMY AL&T


CYBER VS. DRONE I


Small drones are increasingly a threat to Soldiers. A new cyber-enabled system provides a key countermeasure.


by Nancy Jones-Bonbrest


n the desert of the National Training Center, Soldiers got an opportunity to try something completely new. Along with the challenges of 14 grueling days of force-on-force and live-fire training exercises, the 3rd Brigade Combat


Team, 1st Cavalry Division (3/1 CD) tried out a cyber-based prototype that complements electronic warfare systems to combat enemy drones, which are a growing threat to U.S. ground troops.


Using the Army’s enhanced cyber-enabled Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) capability, Soldiers with the 3/1 CD were able to detect and counter common small drones during their training. Te new prototype alerted Soldiers to the presence of a drone and provided a means to target it, for protection across the brigade.


Tis integration of cyber-enabled prototypes with existing signal, intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities allowed the Soldiers to fix on a target and engage their fires cell, said Capt. Christopher Packard, electronic warfare and cyber electromag- netic activities chief for the 3/1 CD.


“Tat’s the goal right there, to reach the commander’s end state and to meet his intent for lethal targeting—those are some of the main concepts to focus on,” Packard said. “I think we’ve done well here, getting intelligence information as it’s passed …. that we can use for targeting. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes in the future.”


OPERATIONAL REALISM


Cyberspace operations specialists with the Expeditionary Cyber Support Detachment, 782nd Military Intelligence Battalion (Cyber) provide support to a training rotation for 3/1 CD at NTC in January. New cyber-enabled C-UAS prototypes complement electronic warfare systems to combat enemy drones, which are a growing threat to U.S. ground troops. (U.S. Army photo by Steven Stover, ARCYBER)


CYBER SOLUTION SOUGHT While the Army has a wide variety of solutions to counter drones, the new capability focused on bringing precision cyber tech- niques to bear as a complement to those other C-UAS systems. A small group of software developers within the U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) and the Defense Digital Service custom- built software, developed a user-focused design and modified commercial off-the-shelf equipment to create pilot systems in early 2018.


Growing demand for a more robust and scalable solution gener- ated a need for a rapid prototype. Te Defense Digital Service completed the specialized software of the pilot system and transi- tioned development of a prototype to the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO), which crafted an


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