From flying a fist-sized drone launched from the palm of your hand to detecting whether a drone is watching you and grounding it with a ray-gun like device, a host of acquired gear is being continually upgraded here by the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force.
But even systems that have only been in the hands of soldiers for less than two years are already on their third, fourth or fifth versions or have upgrades coming soon.
The REF looks at current needs of soldiers across the force with priority going to deployed units in a zero- to two-year time frame. Since their inception in 2002 they’ve covered a host of capability gaps from drone to counter-drone technologies to electronic warfare and underground fighting.