C-UAS

Unmanned aircraft systems are constantly changing and developing, from cheap but capable quadcopters to sophisticated combat drones. This has created opportunities for undesirable characters to inflict harm on civilian air traffic controllers, public safety officials, and front-line warfighters. It is difficult to detect, track, and respond to the threat. COSMIAC’s work in this area with the Joint Navigation Warfare Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory have provided a unique set of skilled personnel to address solutions.

COSMIAC’s organizational structure with cleared personnel and close proximity to national ranges such as White Sands Missile Range provides dynamic solution sets to allow for testing systems to detect, destroy, assume control of, and better understand the threats C-UAS pose to the government.

New technology areas being investigated involve large commercial drones such as the 17’ wingspan propeller drone and jet-powered units shown in the pictures below. Additional work is also being performed in the areas of machine learning for GPS signal denial and spoofing to avoid C-UAS threats.

COSMIAC students working with commercial engineers on drone integration, assembly, and test.

COSMIAC is also working with a skilled set of small businesses in this area such as the CounterDrone Corporation. Their engineers are shown training students on assembly and testing of drones.

17-foot drone during flight tests

Student testing smaller drone units

Students working on high-speed drone assembly and test