One of the United States Army’s main priorities is the development of a transportable war machine to counter short-range aerial defense threats, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
For about fifteen years, the Army’s inventory of military machines to defend against low-altitude and medium-altitude threats have diminished, warned Barry Pike, the Army’s program executive officer for missiles and space. Last month, he addressed more than 100 at the Association of the Army’s ‘Hot Topics’ forum on air and missile defense in Arlington, Virginia.
According to the Army News Service, the Pentagon has enjoyed decades of air superiority over all potential adversaries; however, that is rapidly changing with the worldwide proliferation of drones. Over the years, Army officials have failed to develop and deploy new high-tech weaponry for short-range aerial threats, thus creating a massive gap in short-range defenses.
It is a race against time for the Army to plug the gap in short-range defenses…
Richard P. DeFatta, director, Future Warfare Center, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command spilled the beans at last month’s forum on air and missile defense and told the audience that Army soldiers are conducting field training exercises with the first-ever practical laser weapon system in Europe.
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