Amid a rising tide of low-cost armed adversary drones threatening U.S. troops abroad, the U.S. military is doing everything it can to protect its forces from the ever-present threat of death from above. But between expensive munitions, futuristic but complicated directed energy weapons, and its own growing arsenal of drones, the Pentagon is increasingly considering an elegant and simple solution to its growing drone problem: reinventing the weapon.
At the Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) event in August, the US Department of Defense tested an autonomous robotic weapons system with artificial intelligence developed by rookie defense contractor Allen Control Systems nicknamed it the “bullfrog.”
The Bullfrog, consisting of a 7.62mm M240 machine gun mounted in a specially designed rotating turret and equipped with an electro-optical sensor, proprietary artificial intelligence and computer vision software, was designed to fire small arms against drone targets with high more accuracy than the average US service member can achieve with a standard weapon like the M4 carbine or next generation XM7 rifle. Indeed, images An image of the Bullfrog in action posted by ACS shows the truck-mounted system jamming small drones and knocking them out of the sky with just a few shots.
The Bullfrog appears effective enough against drone targets to impress Department of Defense officials: According According to Defense Daily, Alex Lovett, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for prototyping and experimentation within the Pentagon’s Research and Engineering office, told reporters at a demonstration event in August that testing of the “low-cost” Bullfrog solution cost” had “gone very well.” .” If the Pentagon adopts the system, it would represent the first publicly known lethal autonomous weapon in the U.S. military’s arsenal. according to the Congressional Research Service. (The Office of the Secretary of Defense has not yet responded to WIRED’s request for comment.)
Shooting down small, fast-moving drones with conventional firearms is a major challenge for even the most talented marksman, and the US military has been looking at various ways to make its small arms more effective against unmanned aerial threats. Those efforts include the acquisition of small to medium caliber ammunition and “Pellet-like” ammunition that can replicate the effects of shotguns what has proven effective anti-drone measures in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Rifle-mounted GPS and radio frequency jammers to disorient incoming drones so troops don’t have to carry bulky, separate weapons to counter drones like the drone hunter either night fighter; and “smart” optics from companies such as smart shooter and ZeroMark which supposedly only allows a gun to fire when pointed at the target. The army has even started integrating counter-drone exercises into your basic training regimenpart of a broader effort make such schooling as “routine” as conventional marksmanship training.
For ACS co-founder and CEO Steve Simoni, a former Navy nuclear engineer, the best way to optimize a firearm for drone threats is not through novel accessories or enhanced training, but a combination of advanced robotics. and sophisticated AI that can eliminate guesswork. acquisition and monitoring of objectives.