AFRICOM CURTAIN CALL drone-swarm defense passes second field test at Lawrence Livermore
A US military system can now throw up a defensive 'curtain' of cheap drones to knock down incoming drone attacks in near real time. At Lawrence Livermore, AFRICOM's CURTAIN CALL passed a second field test, tracking single drones and swarms and firing counter-drones on operator ap
The drone threat that has reshaped modern battlefields is pushing the US military toward an unusual answer: fighting drones with drones. US Africa Command has completed a second successful field test of CURTAIN CALL, a low-cost system designed to defend troops and bases against drone attacks. The trial ran at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The concept is simple in outline. Cameras and sensors watch for an incoming threat, alert a human operator, and on approval launch a defensive 'curtain' of drones to intercept the attacker. What set this round apart was difficulty. The team tested the system against a single drone and then against a coordinated attack by multiple drones at once, the kind of swarm tactic that has proven hard and expensive to stop with traditional air defenses. AFRICOM reported that the system detected and tracked the threats, cued the defensive swarm in near real time, and kept its communication and command links intact throughout. It also integrated the Tactical Awareness Kit, the situational-awareness software already used across US forces. The appeal is cost. Conventional interceptors can run far more expensive than the cheap drones they are shooting down, an imbalance that favors the attacker in any sustained fight. A swarm of inexpensive defensive drones flips that math. According to AFRICOM, the data gathered during the tests will shape its concept of operations and help identify the gaps that remain before a system like this could be fielded. The command framed CURTAIN CALL as a potential, cost-effective option for protecting forces in the future, not a finished capability.