Tag Archives: UAS

Getting Shotgun (and Rifle) Serious About Drone Defense

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Increasingly, rifles and shotguns would appear to be the last-ditch C-sUAS (counter-small unmanned aerial systems) answer. Ukraine is buying thousands of 12-gauge shotguns from Turkey (which makes “Turknellis” of all sorts), and American mil-journalists have vouched for them in action, with the caveat that you only have about two seconds of response once you hear the overhead drone inbound.

It is all getting pretty kinetic in a sort of 21st-century Shooting Clays of Death kinda way.

The Marines are actively using their M1014 Benellis to conduct “realistic training in countering low-altitude sUAS threats, highlighting the necessity to continually adapt to rapidly evolving technologies.”

Thus:

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Ean Gibson, a ground electronics, telecommunications, and information technology systems maintainer with Combat Logistics Battalion 13, Combat Logistics Regiment 17, 1st Marine Logistics Group, fires an M1014 shotgun during a counter-small unmanned aerial systems shotgun range at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, March 18, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Mhecaela Watts)

A U.S. Marine with 1st Marine Logistics Group, fires an M1014 shotgun during a night counter-small unmanned aerial systems shotgun range at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Jan. 22, 2026. During the range, Marines practiced engaging simulated sUAS, providing realistic training in countering low-altitude aerial threats while reinforcing the need to adapt to rapidly evolving technologies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Mhecaela Watts)

U.S. Marines with 1st Marine Logistics Group, fire M1014 shotguns during a counter-small unmanned aerial systems shotgun range at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Jan. 22, 2026. During the range, Marines practiced engaging simulated sUAS, providing realistic training in countering low-altitude aerial threats while reinforcing the need to adapt to rapidly evolving technologies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Mhecaela Watts)

Further, the Marine Corps is moving to acquire 5.56x45mm L Variant anti-drone ammunition for standard M4, M4A1, and M27 rifles.

“Aim High, Air Force”

The USAF is bringing in Security Forces members for two-day shotgun courses using enhanced Remington 870s, specifically to counter drones. It has something the Air Force has been mulling for a minute, having trialed C-sUAS shotgun ammo as far back as 2017. 

As part of a Department of War strategy to counter adversary use of small unmanned aerial systems across all military branches, the Air Force is addressing these new threats by training Airmen to mitigate drone incursions at U.S. installations. While security forces personnel traditionally carry rifles and handguns, the 12-gauge M870 offers another tactical option against fast-moving aerial targets.

Airmen assigned to the 124th Security Forces Squadron, Idaho Air National Guard, participate in counter-drone training at Saylor Creek Range, Idaho, June 5, 2026. USAF 260605-Z-LB832-9443 by Air Force Staff Sgt. Jadyn Eisenbrandt

Big Green’s efforts

The Army, at least the 10th Mountain, is now running a weeklong Counter‑Unmanned Aerial Systems Academy.

During the course, Soldiers learn how drones operate, how they are used tactically, and how to maintain and integrate them into maneuver formations.

The academy includes instruction on detection, defeat methods, concealment, battle drills, and survivability, reinforced through practical exercises.

Pfc. Anthony Leap, an infantryman for 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), practices avoiding detection from small unmanned aircraft systems May 13, 2026, at Fort Drum, NY. Through the Mountain Innovations Systems Lab, Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division trained to understand their tactical applications, maintenance requirements, and integration into maneuver operations. Photo by Spc. Isaiah Mount

Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division (LI) practice firing live rounds at small unmanned aircraft systems as part of a training exercise on May 14, 2026, at Fort Drum, NY. Through the Mountain Innovations Systems Lab, Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division trained to understand their tactical applications, maintenance requirements, and integration into maneuver operations. Photo by Spc. Isaiah Mount

Meanwhile, proven Ukrainian devices, such as the Obriy 1.3 drone detector, are increasingly being spotted in the field with U.S. troops in training.

For a quick reality check on how hard it is to down a drone with small arms, check this out from Garand Thumb:

Drone updates galore

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So it looks like the DOD (and the Coast Guard) is finally getting serious about UAVs and USVs. Lots of recent developments.

To kick it off, a recent Congressional Research Service report on the U.S. Army’s Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Programs highlights the increase in funding for the UAS, with the Army requesting $803.9 million for procurement and research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) for FY26. Compare this to just $99.9 million in FY24.

In a nod to the increase, the Army formally established the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) with a mission to enhance the DOD’s unmanned systems and affordable C-sUAS capabilities.

Further, Fort Rucker has established its first Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course.

Speaking of Rucker, during the Army’s Unmanned Aerial Systems and Launched Effects Summit, held Aug. 11-15 on the base, a paratrooper from the 173rd Airborne Brigade “achieved a milestone once unimaginable for conventional Army units: destroying an aircraft in flight using a first-person-view drone carrying an explosive charge.” In short, strapping a remote detonated claymore to a Skydio.

The service has been using small FPVs with charges in exercises in Europe in recent months.

U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade prepare to operate and detonate a live First Person View (FPV) drone at Pabradė Training Area, Lithuania, during a joint forcible entry operation as part of Swift Response 2025 (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jose Lora)

And in Poland, as part of Project Flytrap 4.0, an evolving C-UAS training event, troopers with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment “detected, tracked, engaged and defeated multiple drones at ranges between 500 and 800 meters using the Ballistic Low Altitude Drone Engagement system from a Stryker vehicle.”

BLADE has been fielded slowly since 2019, and is interesting.

Ballistic Low Altitude Drone Engagement, or BLADE, prototypes are mounted on trucks during an engineering test in June at Fort Dix, New Jersey. BLADE is integrated with an armament system to shoot down smaller unmanned aerial systems at close ranges. The test proved that the BLADE system can hit them with only a short burst of fire. (Photo by Marian Popescu, CCDC Armaments Center BLADE team)

“Some of those [drone] threats were being flown simultaneously, so the system defeated one target then quickly targeted and defeated a second target in a matter of seconds,” said David Goldstein, counter-unmanned aerial systems lead for the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.

With BLADE, a precision radar and C-UAS fire control software are integrated with CROWS hardware and software to assist operators in identifying, tracking, and pointing the weapon to a continually calculated intercept point, enabling the difficult challenge of destroying enemy drones.

Capable of functioning with numerous weapons, the BLADE/CROWS combination at Project Flytrap included an M2 .50-caliber machine gun firing multiround bursts.

The Army has also initiated production of the second tranche of its short-range reconnaissance (SRR) unmanned aircraft systems, and has “selected two vendors to manufacture the SRR system, which will equip the Army’s Transformation in Contact units with advanced, networked communication systems designed to address emerging threats.”

Initial fielding of SRR tranche one began in September 2022, and, to date, the Army has fielded over 16 brigades with this capability. Critical lessons learned and soldier feedback from tranche one were incorporated into tranche two. This strategy of integrating new technologies into future tranches will continue to provide the best UAS capabilities on an accelerated schedule.

Meanwhile, with the Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard announced recently the Initial Operating Capability of the Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Program Executive Office (PEO), “dedicated to the rapid operationalization of the Unmanned Systems Strategic Plan.”

While the service has been sending cutters overseas with contractor-operated Scan Eagle UAVs since 2018 and has been trialing other platforms, a USCG LCDR who has been flying an MQ-9 with the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Patrol’s Air and Maritime Operations Division out of San Antonio just earned his wings, becoming the Coast Guard’s first aviation vehicle pilot. The service plans to spend $266 million to acquire its own MQ-9 Alphas in the coming months.

And finally, DARPA’s USX-1 Defiant, the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) platform, was recently christened in Everett, Washington.

The 180-foot-long, 240-ton lightship, which “can handle operations in sea state 5 with no degradation and survive much higher seas,” is completing final systems testing in preparation for an extended at-sea demonstration of reliability and endurance.

Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force

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In the mood for some light reading on lessons learned in blood and treasure from the war in Ukraine. Well, here are 359 pages courtesy of the U.S. Army War College.

Written by John A. Nagl and Katie Crombe, A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force explores the changing character of war through the lens of the Russia- Ukraine War. The authors analyze the conflict’s history, each side’s warfighting functions, the role of multidomain operations, and more. The radical changes in the character of war suggest the United States is at a strategic inflection point.

The authors draw lessons from both the Ukrainians and the Russians to suggest improvements for the United States. Advances in drone technology, cyber warfare, and electromagnetic warfare pose new technological vulnerabilities and possibilities. In addition, the war has highlighted the roles of allies in deterrence and training, as well as how leadership styles within the military—specifically, in the implementation of mission command—can be a decisive factor. As the Russia- Ukraine War has demonstrated, modern conflict touches a plethora of domains; thus, having sufficient personnel who are ready to fill a variety of capacities will be critical in the future.

Finally, the war has shown that history and justice are critical aspects of going to war and achieving peace, so crafting a narrative and satisfying stakeholders will be necessary for establishing a stable world order. The Russia- Ukraine War foreshadows the challenges the United States will face in future conflict and highlights the keys to adapting to modern warfare.

Download here.

Suitcased-Sized Marine Eyeball and Targeting Teams

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Earlier this summer, members of Task Force 61 Naval Amphibious Forces Europe/2d Marine Division (TF-61/2), operating under U.S. Sixth Fleet, joined their Estonian counterparts to kick off exercise Siil 22, also known in English as Exercise Hedgehog 22. While not a large force of Marines involved, TF-61/2 took advantage of the deployment to test out the new Commandant’s concept for Stand-in Forces (SIF) to generate small, highly versatile units that integrate Marine Corps and Navy forces and have “multi-domain reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance (RXR)” capabilities.

When talking of Maritime Awareness in 2022, the above references little groups of Marines– a team small enough to be inserted in a UH-1Y Venom which can only lift 8-10 combat-loaded men– equipped with back-packable/UTV-mountable Small Form Factor surface search radars, SATCOM, small UAS, and enhanced observation telescopes/binos to provide actionable intelligence and targeting data to upper headquarters.

Check out the highlight reel:

Highly mobile SATCOM on a UTV:

U.S. Marines with 2nd Marine Division test a Small Form Factor Satellite Communication (SATCOM) on the move (SOTM) device, while it’s attached to a Utility Task Vehicle (UTV) on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, April 10, 2019. The CopaSAT STORM is a replacement for the current Networking on the move (NOTM) system, which will allow Marines better communication services while stationary or forward deployed. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Nathaniel Q. Hamilton)

The Marines in the video are shown with Lockheed-Martin’s Stalker VXE Block 30 VTOL UAV, which can be shipped in three large pelican-style cases.

Another new tool is the Next-Generation Handheld Targeting System, or NGHTS, which allows the deployment of laser designation and target location at extended ranges, day and night, in a GPS-denied environment with high accuracy and “allows Marines to prosecute targets at increased standoff ranges.” 

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – Marine peers through a prototype version of the Next-Generation Handheld Targeting System, March 2021 at U.S. Army Garrison Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. The Next-Generation Handheld Targeting System, or NGHTS, is an innovative, man-portable targeting system allowing Marines to rapidly and accurately conduct target location and laser guidance during combat operations. Photo By: MCSC_OPAC

More on NGHTS: 
 
Years of market research, technology maturity and miniaturization resulted in NGHTS. The unit, lighter and less bulky than past targeting systems, includes a selective availability anti-spoofing module GPS, a celestial day and night compass, a digital magnetic compass, a laser designator and a laser range finder, all in a single handheld system weighing less than ten pounds.

The Marines have recently been fielding more AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (GATOR) systems, including one in Estonia but there may be something smaller at play here that was kept off-camera.

GATOR, for reference:

All in all, this all seems right on point for use across nameless Pacific atolls in addition to its already-interesting use in the Baltic.

Pretty informative short about the QF-16 UAS

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They are planning on making 200 “optionally-manned” QF-16 drones over the next 10 years from surplussed early block F-16As

“The QF-16 is the introduction of fourth-generation fighter capabilities in the aerial target mission. It maintains all inherent capabilities of the baseline F-16 Fighting Falcon including supersonic flight and 9 G maneuverability. The QF-16 is a full-scale aerial target that has been modified to be flown with a pilot in the cockpit for training and also without a pilot as a target for live missile testing.”

Coasties step up their UAV game

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USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752), the Coast Guard’s third 418-foot Legend-Class National Security Cutter, just returned to Alameda following 98-day counter-smuggling patrol.

While underway she intercepted three suspected smuggling vessels carrying more than 3,600 pounds of cocaine, completed 150 drills associated with her biannual Tailored Ship’s Training Availability, made a port call at Golfito, Costa Rica to conduct some humanitarian efforts, and brought an additional five tons of blow back to port seized by other cutters for offload.

But she also made a little history by deploying with a ScanEagle sUAS. Stratton has used Scan Eagle in proof of concept tests previously (see the below image of the UAV being “trapped”) but this is the first actual deployment.

The Unmanned Aerial Surveillance aircraft Scan Eagle is recovered on the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton during a demonstration approximately 150 miles off the Pacific Coast, Aug. 13, 2012. The Scan Eagle is being tested for capabilities that will create a reliable reconnaissance system for all 11 Coast Guard missions. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Luke Clayton.

From the USCG’s presser:

Stratton’s crew made history by being the first Coast Guard cutter to deploy fully equipped with a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) for an entire patrol. The sUAS had been previously used in drug interdiction as part of field testing but had not deployed aboard to a cutter for an entire patrol. The sUAS flew more than 35 sorties, accumulated over 260 flight hours and provided real-time surveillance and detection imagery during interdiction operations. This real-time imagery and persistent surveillance capability assisted Stratton’s embarked helicopter and law enforcement teams with the interdictions.