U.S. Army Tests Software Allowing Moving Vehicles to Shoot Down Drones

The U.S. Army tested software that enables vehicle-mounted weapons to shoot down drones while both the target and the vehicle are moving, Defense News reported Tuesday. The demonstration occurred in April at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with a Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station equipped with the new software.

The effort is led by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center under the project name Simultaneous Weapon Autonomy Technology for Fire Control, or SWAT-FC. The software originated in the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program and was adapted for ground vehicles.

Sensors supply constantly updating data to track targets. “It’s a great start to the effort,” Nick Cascia, the project’s armaments officer, said in the release. “The SWAT-FC team has put considerable time and effort into developing our advanced fire control algorithms and preparing for this test.

Once we started destroying drones, it showed the hard work was paying off,” he said. Once fully developed, the system is expected to increase accuracy against small unmanned aircraft systems and decrease the number of rounds needed to disable them.