US Army Central Tests Counter-Drone Smartphone App

U.S. Army Central has tested a counter-drone smartphone app called CARPE Dronvm, a brainchild of U.S. Air Forces Central. The tests were conducted at the McEntire Joint National Guard Base and Poinsett Range in South Carolina. The Department of Defense funded the app built by the MITRE Corp., a manager of federally funded research and development centers, C4ISRNET reported.

The app expands the unmanned aerial system detection assets of the U.S. Central Command.

Lt. Col. Steven Norris, AFCENT’s counter-UAS cell chief, said MITRE has been helping develop CARPE Dronvm since 2019. The app can create a comprehensive layered defense that will link to existing command and control architecture, Norris noted.

CARPE Dronvm’s functionality was demonstrated at the soldier level during the trial. U.S. Army Task Force 39 Operations Officer Maj. Travis Valley said the trial’s footprint was expanded to 50 kilometers, with multiple individuals in the area testing the app.

Valley stated that the app’s performance exceeded expectations in terms of simplicity of use and drone detection capability. CARPE Dronvm has the potential as a force protection multiplier and another tool to help protect deployed soldiers, he added.