WASHINGTON — Drone attacks pose the biggest threat to U.S. troops overseas, prompting an emergency request for $500 million to help build defenses.
Drones that carry cheap, easy-to-use and hard-to-defend explosives pose a similar risk to troops as the IEDs that killed and injured thousands of U.S. service members in Iraq and Afghanistan, military and U.S. officials and experts say. . It was a one-way attack drone launched by Iranian-backed militants that slipped through the defenses of a Jordanian base in January, killing three American soldiers.
“This is a new weapons system,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. “It’s cheap. It’s sophisticated in terms of electronics, and the target itself can be identified and attacked remotely. This is a new stage of war, and we have to be prepared. Hmm, and we’re ready.”
Military officials described intense efforts to protect troops from drones that use missiles, microwave radiation and lasers. The Department of Defense has received more than $500 million through an additional request to Congress to address the drone threat. President Joe Biden signed the bill Wednesday as part of a $95 billion foreign aid package.
Michael O’Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, said rapid changes in technology and tactics require the Pentagon to act quickly. He supports pooling funds to promote innovative and inexpensive defenses that jam the signals used to guide drones and killer drones to track enemies.
“They’re a big threat,” O’Hanlon said.
Drone dilemma
Not so long ago, the Pentagon controlled the skies above the battlefield with drones like the Predator and Reaper. A pilot operating a drone from a desert outpost in Nevada fired Hellfire missiles at suspected militants in Afghanistan and Iraq. Troops on patrol in a combat zone threw small drones into the air to scout nearby enemy movements.
If you look at the Ukraine war through the lens of Twitter or X, you’ll see countless examples of drones hovering over Russian tanks and dropping high explosives into their open hatches.
Or a video feed from a one-way attack drone (many supplied by the Pentagon) that chases down an armored vehicle and explodes on impact.
The days of the Pentagon as the sole drone powerhouse are long gone, said a senior defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Ghosn is also blocking the proliferation of technologies that make drones smaller, lighter, stealthier, more powerful and more lethal, officials said. Commercial drones and their parts are easily available.
more:A look back at the proliferation of deadly military tools after deadly drone attack in Jordan
The reality is unfolding from the Red Sea, where Iranian-backed Houthi militants have launched drones into busy shipping lanes, to Iran, which launched a wave of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday. In both cases, virtually all the drones were destroyed before reaching their targets. However, doing so requires various defenses and significant costs.
A US Patriot missile force based in Iraq shot down a ballistic missile heading towards Israel, and two squadrons of fighter jets shot down dozens of drones. Each Patriot missile interceptor costs about $4 million.
defense in depth
Defenses against drones can be as simple as hiding from them, or as complex as attacking them with lasers from the air. And almost everything in between, said Army Maj. Gen. David Stewart, who heads the Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Agency.
“There is no silver bullet, and even great capabilities like the Patriot system may not survive against certain threats,” Stewart said in an interview. “You need a defense-in-depth approach.”
For troops in remote bases known to the enemy with attack drones, the first layer of defense would ideally extend for several miles beyond the fort’s walls. That invisible perimeter can extend up to 10 miles from the gate, Stewart said, and includes an electronic border that can disguise the drone to attack another target or sever the link between the drone and its pilot. He said there was a possibility that military weapons were involved.
Closer layers could use microwave weapons that would “actually fry the internal organs” of the drones, rendering them harmless, Stewart said.
The Army has deployed a prototype laser to the Middle East, the commander of Central Command confirmed in testimony on Capitol Hill. Army Gen. Eric Kurilla was apparently referring to the lasers mounted on the Army’s Strachier combat vehicles. A crew of three soldiers can destroy the drone using lasers at close range.
The 50-kilowatt laser has been used successfully against a variety of drones, according to an Army report cited by the Congressional Research Service. However, the challenge for lasers remains protection against rockets, artillery, and mortars.
Stewart said the final layer involves shooting down a drone, or “steel.” Weapons such as coyotes that fire small missiles at drones and machine guns that take down drones with a hail of bullets. Stewart said enemy tactics are constantly changing, making it harder to find and kill drones.
“Whether it’s flying faster or flying lower or using different attack patterns, we’re seeing a rapidly changing and evolving process there,” Stewart said.
The attack, which killed three soldiers and wounded 35 others in January, occurred at a time when militants appeared to have discovered a seam in defenses in depth. The insurgents launched one-way attack drones, which can be programmed to attack targets and do not require an operator to pilot them. Officials said the base’s defenders may have mistaken the drone for a friendly drone and crashed into the soldiers’ quarters.
In his testimony to Congress last month, Kurilla emphasized the threat of drones and the need for immediate solutions. He said strong microwave investments would be needed to attack the threat posed by drone swarms.
Reed said in an interview that recent tests conducted at Army Fort Sill showed that microwave weapons were successful in bringing down swarms of drones.
Kurilla told lawmakers that the ultimate goal is to develop a weapon that destroys drones with a burst of energy for about $2. In reality, expensive missiles are often the solution for now.
“The only thing worse than not having that expensive missile shot down is hitting that $2 billion ship with 300 sailors on board,” he said.
