Army looking into using 2 U.S. ranges for testing to mimic Ukraine's conditions

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The Army successful the adjacent 4 to six weeks plans to acceptable up astatine slightest 2 home ranges that mimic realistic conditions connected Ukraine battlefields, according to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.

"You tin person a benignant of physics warfare and each of the contested situation created, and you tin person drone manufacturers and counter-drone tool-builders engaging together," Driscoll told reporters Tuesday. "Then, we besides privation soldiers to beryllium capable to spell there, truthful that they tin fortify their skills and enactment hand-in-hand with developers."

Driscoll said determination are already places successful the U.S. wherever the Army tin trial safely, and separately, the Army is looking astatine a planetary scope extracurricular the U.S. to bash "much much assertive testing," including with hypersonics. When asked, Driscoll declined to accidental wherever these ranges would beryllium until readying is farther along.

At slightest immoderate of the existent counter-drone grooming for soldiers, similar 1 CBS News saw in April, does not see physics jamming — successful portion due to the fact that the U.S. restricts jamming domestically.

Driscoll made the comments portion attending an manufacture time the Army held to speech to companies astir the Pentagon's propulsion for much systems to intercept drones oregon missiles.

Dwayne Hayes, an authoritative from the Army's Strategic Threats Office, told participants that Russia is producing astir 3,000 to 5,000 one-way onslaught drones, similar Shaheds, per period and astir 600,000 per period of the smaller first-person-view drones. Faced with that threat, Ukraine produces astir 30,000 interceptor drones per month, according to Hayes.

Hayes said the U.S. is "really good" astatine producing "exquisite" munitions — the much expensive, precocious and method weapons similar Patriot oregon THAAD interceptor missiles — but besides needs to marque interceptors that are inexpensive capable to beryllium expendable successful a "brutal warfare of attrition," similar the 1 successful Ukraine.

The Iran war has highlighted vulnerabilities successful the defence industry, peculiarly successful velocity and outgo of production. President Trump met with large defence companies earlier this twelvemonth and is expected to conscionable again with them this week to property them for faster production.

Some companies expected to be — similar Lockheed Martin, Boeing and L3Harris — nutrient parts for much exquisite munitions, similar the Patriot interceptor missiles that tin each outgo $4 cardinal to $5 million.

At the aforesaid time, the Army is soliciting accusation from a broader array of companies successful the adjacent fewer months for proposals connected interceptors that would outgo less.

"This is not intended to regenerate the solutions that we person — they're incredible," Driscoll said of the exquisite munitions. He told the industry-day participants, "They've been described arsenic the 'Ferrari' of products, and it is, but we request immoderate different things to supplement those products."

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