Army personnel unbox and test drones at Fort Stewart, Ga., on April 6, 2024. The U.S. military is exploring a new way to defend troops in Africa from unmanned aerial threats, using commercial technology to field swarms of drones and sensors that act as a protective shield. (Jacob Slaymaker/U.S. Army)
STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. military is testing a new way to shield troops deployed to Africa from unmanned aerial attacks, relying on commercial technology to produce swarms of counter-drones and sensors that serve as a protective wall.
The U.S. Africa Command initiative, dubbed Curtain Call, comes as American troops in Africa contend with a growing drone threat at forward locations.
“The (drone) threat exists in the AFRICOM AOR today, and we’ve been posturing to enable an integrated force protection architecture that can handle those threats,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jared Bindl, AFRICOM’s chief innovation officer, in an interview Wednesday. “This concept and its associated capability are one of many we are looking at to reduce the risk to our joint forces.”
While Bindl didn’t specify where precisely U.S. forces have dealt with drone threats, AFRICOM has long been involved in supporting Somalia in its battle against multiple Islamic extremist groups. Over the years, U.S. troops have been drawn into combat after coming under attack there and near Somalia’s border in Kenya.
The Stuttgart-based AFRICOM said it is developing Curtain Call in collaboration with a Joint Staff innovation program.
Soldiers operate a swarm of drones at Fort Irwin National Training Center, Calif., in this undated photo. The U.S. military is testing a new approach to protect troops in Africa from drone attacks, using commercial technology to deploy swarms of drones and sensors that form a defensive barrier. (James Newsome/U.S. Army)
In January, AFRICOM ran its first trial during a field exercise in the United States in which engineers worked on technical problems. The command is now taking lessons learned from that drill and applying them to a second test happening in the coming weeks.
The effort currently utilizes as many as 25 flying counter-drones but has the potential to be built up into a swarm of hundreds, defense officials said.
After a second trial run, the next step will be to experiment with the system at operational locations in Africa. Additionally, anything tested in the AFRICOM theater will likely fill capability gaps for other combatant commands, defense officials said.
AFRICOM’s entry into the development of drone and counter-drone capabilities showcases how the war in Ukraine has sparked an across-the-board push by the U.S. to adapt to a transformed battlefield dominated by unmanned systems.
The Iran war, which also has featured relatively low-cost drones, has shown how such systems can sneak past sophisticated air defenses.
For the Pentagon, a key aspect in its drive to better prepare for drone warfare is to develop defense systems that can counter large numbers of cheap drones with something equally as cheap. The Pentagon and military services also have emphasized the need to get the defense industry to move faster when it comes to fielding new equipment.
If Curtain Call passes upcoming tests, speed is of the essence for AFRICOM, Bindl said.
“There’s absolutely an impetus for us to challenge the status quo regarding traditional timelines we see, from problem identification to capability delivery, and compress this down to a year or less,” Bindl said.
