DARPA looks at ‘drone defense’ for convoys
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighters have mounted weapons on cheap, off-the-shelf drones on several occasions over the past few months, using them against US-backed Iraqi troops pushing towards Mosul. Although there have been no reports of a drone attack on a convoy of land vehicles yet, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seems to be thinking ahead.
On Monday, DARPA announced it had released a solicitation for what it calls the “Mobile Force Protection” (MFP) program, a project that could be worth up to $63 million. The initial phase focuses on developing “enabling technologies” and should be worth $3 million for each contractor, the announcement said.
The drone defense system needs to serve “military or civilian” needs in both “homeland or abroad.”
The project (DARPA-PS-17-01) seeks to develop a system that can defeat an attack by a multitude of “self-guided, small unmanned aerial systems (UAS)” on a moving target such as a convoy of vehicles of patrol boats. Specifically, the system needs to be able to deal with fixed-wing or rotor drones that weigh less than 200 pounds (90 kilos) apiece.
Making a weapons system capable of defeating the drones while staying small enough to be mounted on “tactical vehicles and vessels” is what makes the request a tall order.
DARPA said it does not plan to consider lasers – “high-power direct energy systems” – or high-caliber guns “with uncontrolled projectile trajectories that result in high-energy fragments,” or live animals. Anything too big, too heavy or too power-demanding to fit onto a Humvee or a 25-foot Coast Guard boat will be ruled out as well.
#DARPA funds second prototype of new sea drone (VIDEO) https://t.co/VfqFb33ZHHpic.twitter.com/9RENr2kQHW
— RT America (@RT_America) November 18, 2016
The final requirement is that any systems must use the US Army’s MAFIA (Maneuver Aviation and Fires Integration Application) operating system, to enable plug-and-play functionality.
“DARPA will consider only system prototypes that incorporate a MAFIA architecture,” the solicitation said.
If phase one of the project results in viable technology, DARPA is willing to fund the next phases of research that would culminate in a prototype demonstration, the agency said.
