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Dear Members and Friends,
Our latest MDAA report is the 13th in our series of Friday Threat Alerts on Missile and Drone Defense
Key Points
• For the first time, the U.S. military is successfully employing a higher-energy laser system to down suspicious drones probing the southern border. On the night of 25-26 August, the U.S. Joint Task Force – Southern Border (JTF – SB) used an Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL) system to down three drones in the Rio Grande Valley. By 4 September, the AMP-HEL system had defeated a total of 11 cartel-linked drones.
• The AMP-HEL system is mounted on top of a vehicle, and soldiers are tracking drones using an “Xbox” controller and camera feed displayed on an iPad-like device. The drones were determined to be a “physical threat” to U.S. military personnel and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Once a drone is in sight, the AMP-HEL is employed to direct an instantaneous heat beam to hit precise points on the drone. These operations are being coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure safe technology employment. The tracking of potential drone threats is also being coordinated with Mexican authorities.
• The comparative advantage of the employment of lasers like AMP-HEL is they provide a cost-effective alternative to kinetic interceptors against inexpensive, commercial, and modified drones. As with other directed energy weapons, economics and magazine depth are key attributes of the AMP-HEL system. Nonetheless, the engagement capacity of lasers is constrained by available electrical power, thermal management, atmospheric conditions, and the requirement to maintain
sufficient energy on the target.
• These engagements demonstrate a directed energy weapon can repeatedly defeat small drones during an active security mission. The inclusion of this capability in our air defense posture can strengthen layered air defense effectiveness by preserving expensive interceptors for more demanding targets, while providing persistent protection against the growing threat from inexpensive unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Prior to the AMP-HEL employments, military forces were largely using electronic warfare systems to jam cartel-linked drones—a tactic which does not defeat a drone’s future use.
• The successful integration of a mobile HEL into an active security mission and its sustained effectiveness indicates this capability can be used repeatedly as part of a broader counter-UA layered architecture. A layered approach enables sensors, electronic warfare, directed energy, and conventional weapons to be selected according to target behavior, range, environmental conditions, and threat posed to personnel. Integrating advanced directed energy capabilities and other countermeasures also signals we will “not tolerate hostile surveillance,” according to the JTF-SB Commander.
• This type of layered architecture is important because lasers will not replace other counter-drone weapons and the scale of the UAS threat to the homeland is significant. NORTHCOM has indicated more than 300 UAS have been defeated since the beginning of the year through a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic means. Cartel networks are increasingly employing UAS to facilitate illicit human smuggling and actively spying on military personnel and law enforcement partners.
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