A team from US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) deployed at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota between 21 and 27 October to provide counter-small uncrewed aerial system (C-sUAS) support to the 5th Bomb Wing and installation commander, successfully engaging more than 100 targets of interest across several days and attaining certification as an operational team.
The exercise also served as a validation and certification event for USNORTHCOM’s C-sUAS fly-away kit from Anduril. It was the first time the newly-formed team deployed with the kit that is designed specifically to detect, track, identify and mitigate drone incursions at military installations within the United States.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Joey Frey, the command’s C-sUAS response programme manager and an Army air defender said the goal was to evaluate the entire movement to the North Dakota base from the call to action to ensuring the equipment was loaded on a military aircraft and transported, completing successful counter-drone engagements, and redeployment back to Colorado Springs, where USNORTHCOM is located. “This team of 11 far exceeded expectations of operators whose first time seeing the system was 30 days ago,” he said, referring to the command’s C-sUAS experiment Falcon Peak 25.2 at Eglin AFB, Florida in September, where the team learned how to set up the system, mitigate drone threats and tear down the system during their time in the Sunshine State.
The fly-away kit is an amalgamation of sensors and effectors including the Heimdal mobile sensor trailer that includes a continuous 360-degree pan and tilt unit, thermal optics and a radar, all working together autonomously for target acquisition ; Anvil drone interceptors and launch box, which operate autonomously to detect, track, shadow and mitigate threats; an electromagnetic warfare effector called Pulsar that features radio frequency detect, track, classify and deny options; and The Wisp, a wide-area infrared system that is AI-enabled and offers 360-degree, full-motion sensoring to provide an accurate sight picture for operators.
At Minot AFB, the USNORTHCOM C-sUAS team had to contend with cold, windy and wet conditions during the exercise. Leading the C-sUAS team on the ground was Maj. Austin Fairbairn, an Air Force missileer working in USNORTHCOM’s Theater Security Cooperation office. He said the learning curve has been steep as the majority of the team does not have a C-sUAS background. The team has learned and gained new skills in operating the system’s command-and-control software interface called Lattice, powering up and calibrating systems and creating best practices for C-sUAS tactics. Fairbairn said giving operational support to the 5th Bomb Wing during their exercise “provided a solid foundation of skills” for the team when it comes to “real-world drone engagements.”
The USNORTHCOM team’s efforts at Minot AFB went beyond the drone mitigations mission. They also worked through the complexities of federal statutes and interagency partners to ensure the installation commander was operating under appropriate authorities to protect the base from drone incursions. Minot completed a drone defence plan in 2019 and updated it a few years ago. USNORTHCOM’s role in this latest exercise was to help base complete another set of revisions that would allow a wider C-UAS defense plan that includes the fly-away kit, if needed.
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Image: US Department of Defense photo by John Ingle
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