The US Army recently conducted a pair of back-to-back exercises at Fort Novosel to train for the emerging threat of armed drones.
The exercises started with a Full Scale Exercise (FSE) the week of March 3. Conducted by the Fort Novosel Garrison the FSE ran a scenario of responses to a drone attack. Following the FSE was the Quantum Eagle Exercise led by the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence. This exercise changed the scenario to include counter drone systems and teams deployed to stop incoming drone attacks.
“We wanted the scenario to reflect on a UAS incident without the counter and then require higher headquarters to provide (counter-drone) capabilities,” said Steven Rogers, the emergency manager with the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization, and Security.
The first full scale exercise ran a complex scenario involving an off-course hobby drone, as well as an attack by a set of small drones dropping explosives onto critical areas on post. This tested not only the response to the attack, which is like other full scale exercises run throughout the Army, but also the reporting and investigation of drones on the installation.
“We identified some vulnerabilities and ways we can improve and make ourselves better prepared for an incident,” Rogers said.
The second exercise took that same core concept, a drone attack on Fort Novosel, but this time had the installations equipped with drone detection and jamming equipment, representing a situation where a drone threat had been predicted, and defensive systems sent to the installation. This exercise was less about responding to an emergency caused by drones, and more about responding to the drones themselves. Fort Novosel security forces were equipped with the Forward Area Air Defense (FAAD), a complex radar, camera and jammer system. This system allowed the security teams to detect small flying objects and then use a variety of cameras and other sensors to determine what and where they were. If the flying object was determined to be a drone threat, then the FAAD system operators could turn on a jamming system.
“Anything within that (jamming) bubble is going to have the connection severed,” said Capt. Micah Moore, the operations officer with Fort Novosel Directorate of Public Safety.
For drones that are in specific areas, teams on the ground helped spot the drone locations and evaluate the threat they posed. If needed, they were also able to directly engage the drones using a portable jamming system.
The US Army says the jamming systems are safe to use in training scenarios like this as well as in a real-world situation, as a loss of signal will not cause a drone to fall from the sky. Instead the drone will typically either try and remain in place, or return to the point it was launched from and land.
An important part of the exercise was not just identifying and jamming the drones but practicing how to determine when a drone was on Army property and getting authorisation to engage the drone with the jamming systems. While a simple procedure on the face of things, the legal complexities of using electronic warfare systems against aircraft means knowing what the threat is doing and determining when to engage is a decision with possible legal consequences.
“We had great communications across the board, both coordinating through dispatch and going up the chain for authorisation to engage the drones,” said Moore.
Over the course of the exercise more than 30 drone threats were identified and engaged. Like the first exercise, the second gave the soldiers, civilians and law enforcement officers who are charged with protecting Fort Novosel a chance to practice new techniques and get proficient with new equipment.
“I knew nothing about how to engage drones until last week,” Moore said at the end of the second exercise. “My confidence has increased. I feel if our guys had to engage drones in an operational environment they’d do a fantastic job.”
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Image: A small drone drops a tennis ball simulating an explosive device during an exercise at Fort Novosel. The drones were tracked by a combination of radar and teams on the ground. (Photo by John Hamilton, Fort Novosel Public Affairs Office)
