Over the last five years, gadgets have become one of the most important resources in the field of war. This has made their number increase considerably and making it very feasible to capture an enemy device. And even more so to use them for one’s own benefit. This is how the US Army’s Multifunctional Reconnaissance Company or MFRC, has begun to modify its detection equipment to update itself.
Until now, most drone detectors worked with certain premises that allowed them to detect any device that could be considered enemy and if it turned out to be of domestic manufacture (American in this case) was marked as safe.
At present, the MFRC consists of different reconnaissance platoons called “hunter-killer” platoons: a platoon of drones and electronic warfareand a robotics and autonomous systems platoon responsible for operating ground robots and drones.
Hunter-killer squads have up to six commercially available short-range drones each, a mix of Skydio, Parrot and Vesper models. The new technology comes with a major cultural shift. While other drone operators have previously said replacing drones is a challenge, the MFRC can experiment as needed without worrying about potential damage.
And if the hunter-killer squad finds a target with their Parrot drone, they can use an artificial intelligence software called Sentinel AI to recommend the best way to angle a cannon to eliminate itThis new technology reduces the time it takes to destroy a target from up to eight minutes to less than one minute.
Each platoon also carries a guidance station for the Switchblade 600, a loitering munition capable of destroying tanksand includes a soldier trained to fly a Switchblade. Real Switchblades are stored in the squad’s operations center, to be launched in the direction of the target before the hunter-killer squad takes control of the drone for the final phase.
But this unit also uses other technologies, for example multiple Raspberry Pi processors, each of them measuring just a few centimetres, they allow you to create an operations centre (from the printer to the projector) in a small space.
And that’s not all. Every platoon senior officer and non-commissioned officer carries a chest-mounted Android phone loaded with the Tactical Assault Kit (TAK), an open-source mapping software that allows soldiers to mark their position and enemies, track friendly air support, and communicate by voice or text. However, soldiers must be wary of the TAK system, because its operation requires the use of a WiFi diskwhose signal can be detected. Consequently, units try to use them sparingly during dedicated communication windows.