The U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, In poor health., wants industry technology ideas to enhance protection for fixed wing transports against small drones weighing as much as 55 kilos.
“AMC is conducting an evaluation to judge potential C-sUAS [counter small unmanned aircraft systems] candidate solutions for integration onboard AMC fixed-wing airborne platforms,” the command said in a June 21 business notice. “The aim is to boost aircrew situational awareness of sUAS operating in proximity to the aircraft and improve aircraft safety of flight in response to sUAS threats or hazards. The scope of this request includes the functional ability to detect, track, and discover sUAS (passive and/or lively detection methods); and/or defeat sUAS threats or hazards (kinetic and/or non-kinetic means).”
“Capability against Group 1 and a couple of UAS are of primary interest, with an objective capability for Group 3 UAS,” AMC said. “Of primary interest is providing on-aircraft C-sUAS capability during critical phases of fixed-wing flight operations below 16,000 feet, with an objective capability for aircraft ground operations (taxi, parked with power on the aircraft, etc.).”
Last summer, Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio said that the Air Force Security Forces Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas would establish a C-sUAS Red Team to judge, test and train C-sUAS personnel (, July 24, 2023).
Air Force leaders have said that future operations may require airfields without established air defense shields.
AMC “is involved in adding an aircraft-centric defense capability to guard aircraft when operating outside the airbase defense concept,” AMC said on June 21. “This aircraft-centric defense concept is meant to defend individual aircraft when operating at locations not having established airbase defense systems.”
“sUAS could also be encountered all over the place, and the likelihood of encounter is increasing with the rapid development of small, inexpensive drones,” the command said. “AMC is anxious with each individual drone operations, in addition to drone swarms. During flight operations, areas of most concern are on approach and landing (below 10,000 feet) and takeoff and climb (as much as 10,000 feet). These are the more critical phases of flight where maneuverability is incredibly limited. Moreover, AMC aircraft regularly conduct flight operations below 16,000 feet within the air littoral which is throughout the ceiling of many Group 2 drones.”
“As a consequence of limited maneuverability, the system might want to give you the chance to defeat the united statesto scale back hazards to the aircraft,” AMC said. “An onboard drone detection system that alerts aircrew to the presence of drones and supply drone location and numbers is a desired capability to boost flight safety [and] a capability with similar functionality as a Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS) to visually display drone locations to permit aircrew to avoid the threat. Moreover, an onboard counter drone capability which could mitigate hazards to flight operations is extremely desired. Since crews are task-saturated during these flight profiles, the system should require very minimal crew interaction to detect and defeat the threat/hazard UAS.”