Marines Announce Plan to Deploy Drone Sensors

The U.S. Marine Corps is planning to field sensors that can monitor radio signals sent or received by unmanned aerial vehicles and those that use auditory cues for drone recognition.

Speaking at the Modern Day Marine conference, Capt. Taylor Barefoot, the counter-unmanned aerial systems capabilities integration officer in the Marine Corps’ Capabilities Development Directorate, said basic scanners will be deployed over the next 12 months while advanced sensor models are being developed, Defense One reported.

The basic scanners will be initially provided to some in the Marine Expeditionary Units, the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and the 4th Marine Regiment, with plans to equip all squads with drone detectors in the future, including a wearable device that immediately provides enemy drone alerts, Barefoot added.

Lt. Col. Robert Barclay, an air defense adviser at Marine Corps Aviation, also spoke at the conference and highlighted the challenge of differentiating friendly from enemy drones.  

Barclay said the U.S. and Ukrainian forces have yet to figure out how to distinguish friendly aircraft from those of the enemy.