The US military is sending anti-drone systems to bases in New Jersey. This is how Dronebuster works.

• The US military has confirmed recent drone activity around bases in New Jersey.

• The Pentagon said this week that it had sent anti-drone technology to two installations.

• One of these systems has been identified as the Dronebuster, a hand-held electronic warfare tool.

The Pentagon is arming two military facilities in New Jersey with anti-drone technology, giving them additional tools to better protect their airspace from any unauthorized drone incursions. One of the systems the Pentagon has named Dronebuster.

The U.S. military has confirmed drone sightings at Picatinny Arsenal and Earl Naval Weapons Station this month, as well as numerous sightings at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, at one point forcing the base to close its airspace. A spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said last weekend that drone activity over bases was not a new problem, but criticized some recent incidents as “irresponsible”.

Among recent drone dramathere were repeated calls to shoot down unidentified aircraft, in particular near military bases.

The Pentagon said this week that “if unauthorized drones are determined to be engaged in any malicious or malicious activity, commanders have the authority to take appropriate measures to mitigate and counter those drone systems,” but the military is not going to any kinetic actions. , the spokesman added, unless it is a “clear and present danger.”

Military bases have some potential to combat drone incursions, but the Pentagon has acknowledged that sending more technology will help them mitigate potential threats.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said the military is providing “active and passive detection capabilities” and “counter-drone capabilities” to Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Ryder named one of those tools as the Dronebuster, a newer anti-drone technique that “uses non-kinetic means to disrupt drone signals” and affect the aircraft’s ability to operate. Picatinny didn’t confirm any of the specific systems it’s getting, but said it is “enhancing its counter-UAS capabilities to detect and mitigate drone incursions.” BI was unable to reach Earle Naval Weapons Station.

The Dronebuster is handheld electronic warfare system developed by the American company Flex Force. When a user points the lightweight device, which first appeared online in 2016, at a drone, the weapon emits a signal that breaks communication between the drone and its operator. It is used by various military services.

US Army trains military personnel to counter drones using the Dronebuster in tandem with the Smart Shooter system, a rifle with special optics that tracks the drone, calculates its trajectory and tells the user when it has a good chance of hitting it with a bullet. BI directly observed this training at the Joint C-sUAS (Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System) University, or JCU, which is a new US Army initiative based at Fort Sill.

In addition to the US military, security and first responders can also use the Dronebuster as a portable jamming system in the event of a threat. The radio frequency jammer has evolved over the years, becoming several times more powerful than previous models and more reliable for a number of counter-drone operations.

Ryder said the device is “a methodology that we have that is able to essentially shoot down drones non-kinetically if we need to.”

For the military, maintaining strength the ability to fight drones becomes important as drone technology becomes more and more productive. The low cost of these systems makes them affordable for both hobbyists and hackers. Terrorists and insurgents have used small drones for combat operations in the Middle East, and during the war in Ukraine, cheap off-the-shelf drones that can be easily purchased for a few hundred dollars have been used in everything from observation to a high-precision strike.

Drone activity over and around US bases has long been a concern for the military and is not limited to the incidents in New Jersey and Ohio.

Suspected drones have also been spotted at US bases abroad in recent weeks. Such activity poses a growing problem for the military, as drones can spy on their assets, such as aircraft, or threaten their operations. As the use of drones continues to expand, the Pentagon is looking for ways to improve its approach countering unmanned systems.

“I think we’ve all accepted the fact that unmanned systems are here to stay,” Ryder said this week. “They’re part of modern warfare, and whether it’s here, at home or abroad, we want to make sure we’re doing our due diligence to protect our forces and our assets from a national security perspective.”

However, responding in the state can be difficult.

“When we’re here on the homeland, the authority that the US military has to detect and track these kinds of things is much different than if we were in a combat zone. In other words, the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities that we can use outside of the United States are very different for very good reasons,” Ryder said.

The drone activity at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle comes amid a flurry of reports of drone sightings on the East Coast over the past few weeks. A number of federal agencies have determined that surveillance is not nefarious, despite claims to the contrary, and include commercial drones, hobbyist drones, law enforcement drones, manned aircraft, helicopters and even stars.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that “we have not detected anything unusual or any risk to national security or public safety over civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast.” The FBI, Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense all claimed the same.

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