DOD's Anti-IED Task Force Adds Drone Battle to Workload

A Defense Department task force that's been focused on countering the threat posed by IEDs is now working to develop anti-drone technology.

According to Defense One, the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Office (JIDO) said commercial drones used by the Islamic State (ISIS) have caused problems on the battlefield.

"Historically, ISIS has been very adept at how they adapt and integrate improvised explosive devices. In the early days, [they had] an almost industrial capacity to do so," JIDO director Lt. Gen. Michael Shields said.

"The natural extension of that was their use of the drones. I don't see that going away."

JIDO scientist Hatch Tynes told Defense One the problem with commercial drones is that they're harder to hear and see in the air than military unmanned aerial vehicles. The task force is working on different sensors that would be able to detect commercial drones, and also ways to neutralize them — for example, a net dragged by a friendly drone could capture the enemy drone.

The addition of anti-drone efforts to JIDO's plate underscores the threat new weapons like drones — which are light and cost very little — pose to American and coalition troops. ISIS used basic drones in the fights for Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria to drop small explosives in the last year.

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