More than 25,000 drones and counter-drone systems delivered to CENTCOM this year

More than 25,000 unmanned and counter-drone systems have reached US forces of CENTCOM in the Middle East this year. The tally was released by the US Department of War and concerns the new agency the Pentagon set up to quickly buy cheap autonomous systems: the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS).

Most of it concerns defensive systems. More than 24,000 are counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), meant to protect US units from enemy drones. More than 1,300 are one-way attack drones for precision strikes, and more than 100 are unmanned surface vessels and underwater vehicles, intended for reconnaissance and strikes at sea. The counter-drone systems were delivered by Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401), to build a layered defence against hostile unmanned systems. For the attack drones and the maritime assets the department cites an investment of about 782 million dollars within the year.

Project Agincourt, which began in September, also tasked the DRPM-UxS team with preparing the creation of a new Autonomous Warfare Command (AUTOWARCOM), which will coordinate unmanned systems across all branches and commands of the US armed forces.

“The DRPM-UxS was created to cut bureaucracy and put lethal technology directly into the hands of our warfighters on the front line,” said Owen West, the agency’s director and head of Project Agincourt. “The thousands of systems operating this year across the CENTCOM area of responsibility are only the beginning,” he added.

Cheap systems in large numbers

The agency was established in July and brought together three bodies under one roof: JIATF-401, the department’s Innovation Unit and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group. The aim is to shorten development and procurement times, so that cheap mass-produced systems are acquired in large numbers, as a less costly alternative to classic weapon systems. In a separate report of November 4, the Pentagon says it has invested more than 6 billion dollars in unmanned systems for air, land and sea over the past year.

CENTCOM is the command conducting the war with Iran, where drones and the means to counter them play a central role. American one-way attack drones of the LUCAS type have already been used in the region, as in the Strait of Hormuz, while Iranian drone attacks on ships there continue; see our report on the two tankers ablaze.