For readability and depth, we’ve divided our protection of the current Congressional listening to titled “Safeguarding the Homeland from Unmanned Aerial Programs,” into two elements. Half 1, discovered right here, centered on federal officers’ testimony relating to unexplained drone incursions in New York and New Jersey and the broader challenges dealing with counter-drone operations. That is Half 2, delving into insights from private-sector consultants on this urgent concern.
Counter-drone consultants name for turning to Ukraine, native legislation enforcement
By DRONELIFE Options Editor Jim Magill
(Half 2 of a two-part collection)
A nationwide safety professional on Tuesday informed members of Congress in search of options for safeguarding the homeland from undesirable drone incursions that America ought to take classes from the Ukrainians, whereas a second professional referred to as for elevated cooperation amongst personal infrastructure homeowners and state and native legislation enforcement companies.
Paul Schwennesen, PhD, co-director of the World Technique Choices Group, and Jeffrey Baumgartner, vp of nationwide safety and resilience at Berkshire Hathaway Vitality, testified earlier than a joint congressional subcommittee listening to entitled, “Safeguarding the Homeland from Unmanned Aerial Programs.” The audio system comprised a panel representing personal sector consultants, which adopted shows from a three-person panel of federal safety officers.
Schwennesen characterised the U.S. authorities’s capability to reply to threats posed by drones operated by malicious actors as “under common.” He prompt that federal officers ought to work with Ukrainian protection officers, who’ve led the world of their growth of UAVs used for navy functions in addition to counter-drone expertise.
“The world’s most superior weapons and ways are being developed and deployed at scale within the Ukraine/Russian entrance at remarkably low value and with out central course,” he stated. “We have to be taught from Ukraine. Briefly, the principles of the arms race have been essentially rewritten to favor small, low-cost, simply mastered weapons methods.”
He stated the U.S. armed forces and people of its NATO allies are falling behind within the new arms race to develop small, comparatively cheap unmanned methods and the expertise to counter them.
“The Ukrainians are sinking Russian ships within the Black Sea with little boats with possibly 5 – 6 hundred kilos of TNT on them, a complete bunch of them, and (the Russians) can’t presumably take all of them out,” Schwennesen stated.
As well as, he stated that the Russia/Ukrainian conflict has created a speedy evolution within the growth of counter-drone expertise.
“Jamming doesn’t work the best way we expect it does. And there are such a lot of new growing applied sciences on countering the counters,” he stated. For instance, Schwennesen stated the combatants in that battle are working drones utilizing AI pixel-lock expertise to information the plane, leaving these making an attempt to counter the drone risk with no RF frequency to jam. “They’re doing ambush expertise the place they’re not needing to have any form of communication between operator and drone.”
Schwennesen stated U.S. safety forces ought to undertake an modern, decentralized strategy towards the event of latest counter-drone expertise. “I do suppose Yankee ingenuity is considered one of our comparative strengths that we have to reap the benefits of it,” he stated.
Important infrastructure, stadiums in danger
On the house entrance, Baumgartner stated that extra must be finished to guard important infrastructure, comparable to electrical energy crops and substations, in addition to oil and fuel services, comparable to pipelines and LNG export terminals, from assaults by drone. In a current instance of such a risk, final month federal brokers arrested a Tennessee man for allegedly plotting to make use of an explosive-carrying UAV to attempt to assault a big energy substation.
Whereas drones geared up with explosive payloads pose an apparent hazard, Baumgartner stated some services are weak to a kamikaze-style assault by an unarmed UAV as effectively. “You may merely ram a drone into a few of our infrastructure,” he stated. “We do take a defense-in-depth strategy and attempt to add shielding and obfuscate sure targets.”
Noting that the a lot of the important infrastructure within the U.S. is held in personal fingers, Baumgartner burdened the necessity for cooperation amongst facility homeowners and state and native officers as the easiest way to guard infrastructure from undesirable drone incursions. “Defending these belongings is a collaborative effort,” he stated.
He cited the creation of fusion facilities, the place a number of companies collect to research and share threat-related data, in addition to evaluation facilities that carry collectively personal companies with state and native companions pretty much as good examples of such collaboration.
He noticed that the momentary authority given to the Division of Homeland Safety and the Division of Justice to guard important infrastructure is about to run out this month and urged Congress to take motion to increase and strengthen that authority.
“The window of alternative to deal with these challenges is closing and by modernizing our defenses, updating our authorized frameworks and fostering collaboration, we are able to safeguard important infrastructure, shield public security and preserve our management in safety and innovation,” Baumgartner stated.
Cathy Lanier, chief safety officer of the Nationwide Soccer League, who had been scheduled to deal with the listening to, submitted written feedback as an alternative. In her feedback, Lanier stated the variety of drone-related incidents at NFL video games has risen exponentially over the previous 5 years, from a few dozen in 2017 to 2,845 in 2023, a rise of virtually 24,00 %.
“In January 2024, the AFC championship recreation between the Ravens and the Chiefs was paused as a result of a drone violated the restricted airspace. Stadium authorities notified state legislation enforcement officers, who situated the drone operator,” Lanier wrote. “The operator subsequently pled responsible to a misdemeanor.”
Sports activities stadiums stuffed with followers stay a favourite goal of terrorists and different malevolent non-state actors, she stated. “Earlier this yr, Islamic State propaganda particularly inspired assaults on stadiums, together with referencing the Paris Summer time Olympics. And social media posts lately threatened drone assaults on the Cricket World Cup on Lengthy Island.”
Lanier referred to as up Congress to cross laws that might lengthen to state, native and tribal legislation enforcement companies the authority to conduct counter-drone measures, a proper presently held by solely a handful of federal companies. The proposed laws, Senate invoice 1631 and the companion Home invoice 4333, “offers extra sturdy and efficient protections for the Homeland generally, and main sporting occasions particularly.”
As well as, she wrote that the NFL continues to work with Congress to revise and enhance H.R. 8610, the Counter-UAS Authority Safety, Security and Reauthorization Act. The present model of the Act would be sure that present authorities for the DOJ of DHS don’t expire, and it begins the method of empowering native legislation enforcement to maintain followers secure, Lanier wrote
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Jim Magill is a Houston-based author with virtually a quarter-century of expertise overlaying technical and financial developments within the oil and fuel trade. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P World Platts, Jim started writing about rising applied sciences, comparable to synthetic intelligence, robots and drones, and the methods by which they’re contributing to our society. Along with DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared within the Houston Chronicle, U.S. Information & World Report, and Unmanned Programs, a publication of the Affiliation for Unmanned Automobile Programs Worldwide.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, an expert drone providers market, and a fascinated observer of the rising drone trade and the regulatory setting for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles centered on the business drone house and is a world speaker and acknowledged determine within the trade. Miriam has a level from the College of Chicago and over 20 years of expertise in excessive tech gross sales and advertising for brand spanking new applied sciences.
For drone trade consulting or writing, E-mail Miriam.
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