A recent drone sighting at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri underscores the need for the Air Force to continue developing systems to counter unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that trespass on its installations, according to a four-star general.
“That got real to us not too long ago with Whiteman,” said Gen. Robin Rand, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. “It’s not just down range over in the combat zones.”
Whiteman is home to the B-2 stealth bomber fleet and is supposed to be a no-drone zone. But the Air Force and other services and defense agencies are increasingly concerned about the proliferation of small, commercially available drones that could accidentally or intentionally fly onto U.S. bases. In July, an Air Force F-22 fighter nearly collided with a small UAS while landing (Defense Daily, July 11).
The Air Force is evaluating a wide range of technologies to defend against such drones. For example, in September, the Air Force said it plans to conduct a counter-UAS experiment in fiscal year 2018 using directed energy weapons (Defense Daily, Sept. 27).
“We’re working really hard on counter-UAS, and so that’s a capability we need to continue to work our way through,” Rand said Nov. 30 at an Association of Old Crows conference in Washington, D.C.
