The U.S. Marine Corps has submitted a request to develop drone detection and destruction capabilities to cover the squad-platoon level, Defense News reports on July 25.
Judging by the open information available on the Internet, the US Marine Corps leadership is looking into individual devices for detecting small drones and new munitions. “comparable in effectiveness to gunfire.”
At the moment, the USMC’s anti-drone arsenal includes a “Light Maritime Air Defense Integrated System” (L-MADIS), which can be installed on the chassis of two all-terrain vehicles, and combines electronic warfare devices and Stinger missiles.
At the same time, a squad-level combat unit – a platoon – does not have its own means of detecting and destroying drones of groups 1 and 2. According to the American classification, drones of group 1 weigh up to 9 kg and fly at an altitude of less than 360 meters. Drones of group 2 weigh 9-25 kg and can fly at altitudes of up to one kilometer.
According to the published request, the Corps wants to obtain equipment to detect and track drones in acoustic and/or radio bands. The sensors must be portable and connected to a pocket tablet, electronic bracelet, headphones or glasses. “that will receive alerts, warnings, notifications from an external sensor.”
Similar capabilities should be given to the platoon for placement on a vehicle, mast or tripod.
For UAV weapons, the Marines want the capability to be deployed as a directed electromagnetic beam shotgun or a combination of standard rifles and grenade launchers with enhanced optics and special ammunition, including 5.56mm, 7.62mm, .50 and 40mm caliber rounds.
Apparently, this refers to those in service with the USMC: the M27 automatic rifle, the M240 machine gun, the M2 heavy machine gun, as well as the M320 and M32 grenade launchers and the Mk 19 heavy automatic grenade launcher.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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