US Army opens acquisition for counter-UAS weapon system

Concerned about the emerging threat of unmanned aircraft, the US Army is canvassing American defence contractors for information on systems that can detect, classify and destroy drones of varying sizes.

www.flightglobal.com...



sorry mods if its in the wrong spot. i wasn't sure exactly where to put it. i hope ole zaphods out there to chime in on this one.


my first question is in the article it says

The RFI, for example, notes that those at the tip of the spear resemble those homeland security operators in terms of the ad hoc nature of their deployment and size of their area of operation.

Indeed, the systems proposed should be designed for both overseas and domestic operations, the RFI states.

i dont gotta openly state why this made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

also, "Those at the tip of the spear" I'm assuming this is representing teams like marine recon? or even smaller. very very special forces type stuff? like lone wolf type? idk it just made my brain ring in warning bells


also

Contractors have until April 1 to answer the RFI, with selected respondents invited to two-day workshop starting April 30 at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.

open to the public? I'm trying to find out and will update if i can find anything out

also, Thanks for the flight global sight zaphod, i dig it.

reply to post by mindseye1609


You're mistaking homeland security with Homeland Security. In this case, they're talking about air defense operators, like we have around Washington and other high security locations.

k i assumed so. i was sure they weren't referring to the agency and using as an adjective. just had to make sure lol.

pretty sure it won't be open to the public, i just read up on what redstone is. for some reason i thought it was an armory, like civilian place. whats that one... red jacket maybe? anyway i need to go have another cup of coffee seeing as how I'm being confused by simple colors in names lol

reply to post by mindseye1609


Some of these shows, even though they're on military bases are open to the public. You can call the and find out. They will open part of the base to the public, usually where the show is, and allow you access to that area.

right on, this event seems like something i would really enjoy. question for ya zaph, where might one who had the knack for designing weapon systems and thinking outside the box find employment? this isn't anything i want to go do tomorrow or anything life is very very full at the moment, its just something I've dabbled with and continue to dabble with in what little free time i have. now I'm sure most my ideas have already been tested and retested on the low but who knows, i got some doozies.

reply to post by mindseye1609


There's BAE systems in Texas, I think there's Qinetiq in Tennessee, Boeing in Huntsville, or Raytheon.

I've looked into alot of the main offenders too but I'm not formally educated much beyond k12, kinda takes me outa the running to work at a giant conglomerate. I'm more talking what are some of the smaller new guys surprising the warfighter community with well thought out designs? anyone?

reply to post by mindseye1609


There are a lot of them actually. Quite a few in robotics, but you'll just have to search around for them. Most of them stay under the radar an out of the public eye for the most part. Look into the various EW systems, or missile systems, and you'll see some of them pop up with component work.

reply to post by Zaphod58


ya boeing and raytheon would be ideal but i wouldnt even knock on their door until i had a practical working prototype. Im still in the rough sketch idea phase, dream phase i guess really, but they are all practical usable ideas.

couple more questions for ya if you dont mind.

how illegal is it to work on weapon systems in private if you can document that its not for dubious purposes? write up a declaration of intent so to say?

i dont have any ideas for super weapons or anything like that just little tweaks and logical integrations really. but how intelligent is it to add to the current dog fight we got going on now? kinda a moral question really but from your point of view?

reply to post by mindseye1609


As long as the weapon would be legal (if you build a working prototype) then there's no problem. If all you do is design and build a mockup, then it's perfectly legal as far as I know. If you test it on something, or you build a working model and it's of something illegal, such as an air to air missile system, then you're in trouble.

reply to post by Zaphod58


thats kinda what i figured. some of them kinda get into grey areas i guess then. i have several ground to air ideas, i guess test practical aspects of the whole until i knew it was safe to proceed probably huh?