US military evaluating C-sUAS leasing options for fixed-site protection

Companies interested in leasing their counter drone technologies to the US Department of Defense (DoD) will have the opportunity to demonstrate their approaches during an April 2022 event at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

The Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System (C-sUAS) Office (JCO) in early November asked vendors to submit two separate White Papers for the demonstration The first is for ‘contractor owned government operated' technologies to protect fixed sites from incoming drones, and the second is for high-power microwave (HPM) systems.

“We are specifically targeting industry who is not already on a contract with the US government … so that we can make sure that we're not missing anything that's out there,” US Army Colonel Greg Soule, the director for acquisition and resources within the JCO, told Janes during a 17 November interview.

For the leasing option, participating companies will be tasked with defending a forward operating base (FOB) that is approximately 1.6 km wide by 3.2 km long over a three-day period, according to Col Soule and the solicitation.

“Here's a multitude of different scenarios that we're going to throw at you from UAS groups one through three — multiple [UAS] and similar targets,” Col Soule explained. “You propose to us how you're going to defend the area, tell us what the hardware is, what the command-and-control system is, and then … give us your pricing structure.”

The JCO intends to evaluate a variety of factors including technical merit, price, and schedule, and is also interested in how the capabilities can interoperate with the Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAADC2) system.

Based on how the technologies perform and the additional information provided to the government, the JCO could invite vendors to submit ‘full proposals' for prototyping contracts.