JAN. 2025. Blues Vol 41 No. 1

US HAS THE TECH TO DOWN

US HAS THE TECH TO DOWN JERSEYDRONES—BUT NOT THE POLICYBy Patrick TuckerOne maker of counter-drone tech says it’s readyto “shoot down whatever is going overhead.”Counter-drone policy—not technology—is keepingU.S. agencies from responding more effectivelyto the reported drone sightings along the EastCoast, U.S. officials said Tuesday. But that’s notstopping makers of anti-drone systems—includingones already protecting troops overseas—fromshowcasing their wares to protect airports anddomestic infrastructure.Agencies and various levels of government havepolicy “gaps and seams” that can’t be closed withoutCongressional action, National Security Councilspokesperson John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.“We urge Congress to enact counter-UAS—unmannedaerial systems—legislation that has beenproposed and repeatedly requested by this administrationthat would extend and expand existingcounter-drone authorities to help identify andcounter any threat that does emerge,” Kirby said.Government officials have stressed that thedrones reportedly sighted since mid-Novemberpose no immediate threat, and do not appear to bepart of any attack. One military official speakingon background said that if intelligence analysishad shown the aerial objects were foreign or militaryin nature, the military could bring sophisticatedsensors and weapons to bear. In February, U.S.Northern Command dispatched an Air Force F-22to down a Chinese spy balloon over the UnitedStates. But the FBI is in charge of the more recentincursions—suggesting that U.S. agencies suspecta domestic cause.In December, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., calledon the Homeland Security department to deploymicro-Doppler radar systems, which detectdrones’ minute vibrations, to identify objects toosmall for conventional radar to find.“We’re asking DHS to bring them to the NewYork-New Jersey area,” Schumer said.Meanwhile, one company that makes a directed-energycounter-drone weapon is offering tohelp. Epirus manufactures a solid-state, longpulse,high-power microwave system dubbedLeonidas.Its microwaves disrupt a drone’s internal electronicfunctioning, causing it to fall from the skybut remain otherwise intact for investigation. Itsnarrow beams keep it from affecting nearby communicationsor air traffic, company officials said,adding that it has performed well in Army evaluations.“We’re sitting on systems ready to go, ready tobe deployed, ready to go to New Jersey, ready togo to Langley [Air Force base in Virginia], ready togo to any of these airfields and shoot down whateveris going overhead,” Epirus CEO Andy Lowerysaid Wednesday.But Lowery said he would be shocked if the U.S.government deployed Leonidas on U.S. soil in comingdays because of “how the FCC prescribes theFAA frequencies” for communications, he said.100 The Blues BLUES - December - JANUARY ‘24 ‘25

The FCC also prohibits the use of signal-jammingdevices of the sort that operators use to stopdrones. The Leonidas is not a jammer, but does usethe electromagnetic spectrum.Lowery said the Army’s testing revealed that thesystem can down drones without disrupting cellularsignals or the navigation and other systems ofaircraft, particularly if the aircraft is at high altitude.It also can be aimed at a very specific area ofthe sky and de-conflicted with air traffic controlor even other law-enforcement drones.Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder saidTuesday that the military is rushing new drone defensetechnology to military bases in response tothe frequent sightings.“This could include active or passive detectioncapabilities, plus capabilities like the systemknown as Drone Busters, which employs non-kineticmeans to interrupt drone signals affect theirability to operate,” he said.But beyond base protection, Ryder said the militaryis highly limited in any response—again due topolicy.“When we’re here in the homeland, the authoritiesthat the U.S. military has to detect and trackthese kinds of things is much different than itwould be if we were in a combat zone. In otherwords, the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissancecapabilities that we can employ outsidethe United States are much different.”The The Blues BLUES - December -- JANUARY ‘24‘25 101